THIS PAPER IS THE FIRST IN A SERIES PRESENTING THE FEATURES OF SYSTEMS DESIGNED FOR COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS AT THE LINGUISTICS RESEARCH CENTER (LRC) OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN. ONGOING RESEARCH IS EXPANDING THE APPLICATION OF THESE SYSTEMS TO INCLUDE NOT ONLY NATURAL LANGUAGE BUT PROGRAMING LANGUAGES AS WELL. THIS PAPER DISCUSSES CURRENT PARSERS, SYNTHESIZERS, AND TRANSLATORS, GIVING FULLEST TREATMENT TO (1) TYPES OF GRAMMAR MOST SUITABLE FOR LANGUAGE DESCRIPTION, (2) GRAMMATICAL DESCRIPTION OF DISCONTINUITIES, AND (3) INTERLINGUAL MAPPING. ALTERNATIVES ARE SUGGESTED AND CHOICES ARE MADE AS TO WHICH FEATURES ARE MOST LIKELY TO BENEFIT RESEARCH IN COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS. FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS PAPER AND CURRENT RESEARCH AT LRC MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE LINGUISTICS RESEARCH CENTER, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, BOX 7247, UNIVERSITY STATION, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78712. (AUTHOR/DO)