Categorizing Unknown Words: A Decision Tree-Based Misspelling Identifier

This paper introduces a robust, portable system for categorizing unknown words. It is based on a multi- component architecture where each component is responsible for identifying one class of unknown words. The focus of this paper is the component that identifies spelling errors. The misspelling identifier uses a decision tree architecture to combine multiple types of evidence about the unknown word. The misspelling identifier is evaluated using data from live closed captions - a genre replete with a wide variety of unknown words.