PyPLN: a Distributed Platform for Natural Language Processing

TL;DR

PyPLN is a scalable, open-source distributed platform that integrates various NLP tools, enabling efficient analysis and management of large text corpora through a user-friendly web interface.

Contribution

It introduces a flexible, Python-based distributed NLP platform supporting multiple languages and easy integration of additional tools, streamlining large-scale text analysis.

Findings

Supports multiple languages including English and Portuguese

Provides a range of NLP features like POS tagging and semantic annotation

Facilitates corpus management and analysis through a web interface

Abstract

This paper presents a distributed platform for Natural Language Processing called PyPLN. PyPLN leverages a vast array of NLP and text processing open source tools, managing the distribution of the workload on a variety of configurations: from a single server to a cluster of linux servers. PyPLN is developed using Python 2.7.3 but makes it very easy to incorporate other softwares for specific tasks as long as a linux version is available. PyPLN facilitates analyses both at document and corpus level, simplifying management and publication of corpora and analytical results through an easy to use web interface. In the current (beta) release, it supports English and Portuguese languages with support to other languages planned for future releases. To support the Portuguese language PyPLN uses the PALAVRAS parser\citep{Bick2000}. Currently PyPLN offers the following features: Text extraction with encoding normalization (to UTF-8), part-of-speech tagging, token frequency, semantic annotation, n-gram extraction, word and sentence repertoire, and full-text search across corpora. The platform is licensed as GPL-v3.