Thirty-eight chapters, commissioned from experts all over the world, describe major concepts, methods, and applications in computational linguistics. Part I, Linguistic Fundamentals, provides an overview of the field suitable for senior undergraduates and non-specialists from other fields of linguistics and related disciplines. Part II describes current tasks, techniques, and tools in Natural Language Processing and aims to meet the needs of post-doctoral workers and others embarking on computational language research. Part III surveys current applications. This book is a state-of-the-art reference to one of the most active and productive fields in linguistics. It will be of interest and practical use to a wide range of linguists, as well as to researchers in such fields as informatics, artificial intelligence, language engineering, and cognitive science.