Hidden Markov Models
Assignment – Natural Language Processing
Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) are a powerful statistical tool used for modeling sequences
where the system is assumed to be a Markov process with hidden states. They are widely
applied in speech recognition, part-of-speech tagging, machine translation, and many other
areas of Natural Language Processing (NLP). This assignment explains the concepts of HMMs
in a student-friendly way, including definitions, working principles, applications, advantages,
and limitations.
1. Basics of Hidden Markov Models
A Markov model is a mathematical system that undergoes transitions from one state to another
on a state space. It follows the Markov property – the future state depends only on the current
state, not on the past states. In a Hidden Markov Model, the states are not directly visible
(hidden), but the output dependent on these states is visible. For example, in speech
recognition, the words we hear are the observations, but the intended phonemes or sounds are
the hidden states.
2. Components of HMM
A typical HMM is defined by the following components:
• States (S): The possible hidden conditions of the system.
• Observations (O): The visible outputs generated by the system.
• Transition Probabilities (A): Probability of moving from one state to another.
• Emission Probabilities (B): Probability of an observation given a state.
• Initial Probabilities (π): Probability distribution of starting in each state.
3. Working Principle
The working of an HMM involves:
1. Choosing an initial state according to π.
2. Generating an observation based on the emission probabilities.
3. Transitioning to a new state using the transition probabilities.
4. Repeating the process until the sequence ends.
The model assumes that the observations are dependent only on the current hidden state.
4. Example
Imagine we want to model the weather (hidden states: Sunny, Rainy) based on whether a
person carries an umbrella (observations: Yes, No). Even though we don't directly observe the
weather, we can guess it based on umbrella usage. Using HMM, we can calculate probabilities
for each weather sequence given a sequence of umbrella observations.
5. Applications of HMM in NLP
• Part-of-Speech Tagging
• Named Entity Recognition
• Speech Recognition
• Machine Translation
• Handwriting Recognition
6. Important Algorithms
1. Forward Algorithm: Computes the probability of an observation sequence.
2. Viterbi Algorithm: Finds the most likely sequence of hidden states.
3. Baum-Welch Algorithm: Estimates unknown parameters of the model.
7. Advantages
• Handles time-series and sequential data effectively.
• Can model systems with hidden structures.
• Well-established mathematical foundation.
8. Limitations
• Assumes the Markov property (memoryless).
• Computationally expensive for large state spaces.
• Parameters need to be estimated accurately for good performance.
Conclusion
Hidden Markov Models are a foundational concept in statistical sequence modeling. They
balance mathematical simplicity with powerful modeling capabilities, making them a go-to
method for many NLP applications. While newer models like deep learning-based approaches
are becoming more popular, HMMs remain important for understanding the basics of sequence
prediction.
