I want to begin by expressing my deep appreciation to the Nominating and Executive Committees and the Association at large for this tremendous honor. I am especially proud to join my collaborators and friends who previously received the Lifetime Achievement Award: Bill Woods, Martin Kay, Lauri Karttunen, and Joan Bresnan. They have profoundly influenced the contributions for which I think I am being recognized today, as have many other colleagues and students that I have worked with closely over the years. I will follow the tradition set down by most previous LTA recipients by describing how events in my personal history propelled me towards the concepts, theories, and algorithms I have helped to develop and have become known for. This historical perspective is quite different from a paper setting forth some current technical results. Some former recipients, Martin Kay for example, were intrigued by language from a very early age. That was not the case for me. I started as an undergraduate at the University of California Berkeley with a major concentration in physics. I decided at one point that physical reality was a little too messy, and I also discovered that I was not interested in spending long hours in a laboratory. So after a year or two I switched to math. That carried me forward to the middle of my fourth and final year, when I began to contemplate a future as a mathematician. That also seemed a little dry and unappealing. I thought I should look around, even at that late date, and maybe find a specialization that was a little more social and for me, a little more engaging.

中文翻译：

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计算心理语言学

首先，我要对提名委员会和执行委员会以及整个协会获得这一巨大荣誉表示深切感谢。我特别自豪能加入我以前获得终身成就奖的合作者和朋友：Bill Woods、Martin Kay、Lauri Karttunen 和 Joan Bresnan。他们对我的贡献产生了深远的影响，我认为我今天得到了认可，多年来与我密切合作的许多其他同事和学生也是如此。我将遵循大多数以前的 LTA 接收者所确立的传统，描述我个人历史中的事件如何推动我走向我帮助开发并因此而闻名的概念、理论和算法。这种历史观点与阐述一些当前技术成果的论文完全不同。一些以前的收件人，例如 Martin Kay，从很小的时候就对语言很感兴趣。对我来说情况并非如此。我从加州大学伯克利分校的本科开始，主修物理学。我曾一度认为物理现实有点过于混乱，而且我还发现我对在实验室中度过长时间不感兴趣。所以一两年后我转向数学。这让我进入了第四年也是最后一年的年中，那时我开始考虑成为一名数学家的未来。这似乎也有点枯燥乏味。我想我应该环顾四周，即使是在那个较晚的日期，也许可以找到一个更具社交性和对我来说更具吸引力的专业。对我来说情况并非如此。我从加州大学伯克利分校的本科开始，主修物理学。我曾一度认为物理现实有点过于混乱，而且我还发现我对在实验室中度过长时间不感兴趣。所以一两年后我转向数学。这让我进入了第四年也是最后一年的年中，那时我开始考虑成为一名数学家的未来。这似乎也有点枯燥乏味。我想我应该环顾四周，即使是在那个较晚的日期，也许找到一个更具社交性和对我来说更具吸引力的专业。对我来说情况并非如此。我从加州大学伯克利分校的本科开始，主修物理学。我曾一度认为物理现实有点过于混乱，而且我还发现我对在实验室中度过长时间不感兴趣。所以一两年后我转向数学。这让我进入了第四年也是最后一年的年中，那时我开始考虑成为一名数学家的未来。这似乎也有点枯燥乏味。我想我应该环顾四周，即使是在那个较晚的日期，也许找到一个更具社交性和对我来说更具吸引力的专业。我曾一度认为物理现实有点过于混乱，而且我还发现我对在实验室中度过长时间不感兴趣。所以一两年后我转向数学。这让我进入了第四年也是最后一年的年中，那时我开始考虑成为一名数学家的未来。这似乎也有点枯燥乏味。我想我应该环顾四周，即使是在那个较晚的日期，也许可以找到一个更具社交性和对我来说更具吸引力的专业。我曾一度认为物理现实有点过于混乱，而且我还发现我对在实验室中度过长时间不感兴趣。所以一两年后我转向数学。这让我进入了第四年也是最后一年的年中，那时我开始考虑成为一名数学家的未来。这似乎也有点枯燥乏味。我想我应该环顾四周，即使是在那个较晚的日期，也许可以找到一个更具社交性和对我来说更具吸引力的专业。