Tokenization

Exhibit 25.10   Tokenization: Breaking down text into tokens.

Tokenization (refer Exhibit 25.10) is the process of breaking down text into smaller units called tokens, which can be words, phrases, or even symbols and characters. It is a critical first step in NLP as it it lays the foundation for further analysis by converting raw text into meaningful components.

There are various types of tokenization:

• Word Tokenization: Splitting text into individual words.
• Character Tokenization: Breaking text into individual characters, useful for handling unknown words.
• Sub-Word Tokenization: Decomposing words into smaller parts, especially helpful for out-of-vocabulary words.

Each tokenization method has its advantages and challenges, depending on the specific NLP application.