Semiautomatic Disabbreviation of Technical Text

Abstract Abbreviations adversely affect information retrieval and text comprehensibility. We describe a software tool to decipher abbrevations by finding their whole-word equivalents or “disabbreviations”. It uses a large English dictionary and a rule-based system to guess the most-likely candidates, with users having final approval. The rule-based system uses a variety of knowledge to limit its search, including phonetics, known methods of constructing multiword abbrevations, and analogies to previous abbreviations. The tool is especially helpful for retrieval from computer programs, a form of technical text in which abbreviations are notoriously common; disabbreviation of programs can make programs more reusable, improving software engineering. It also helps decipher the often-specialized abbreviations in technical captions. Experimental results confirm that the prototype tool is easy to use, finds many correct disabbreviations, and improves text comprehensibility.

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