Disclosed herein is computer technology that applies natural language processing (NLP) techniques to training data to generate information used to train a natural language generation (NLG) system to produce output that stylistically resembles the training data. In this fashion, the NLG system can be readily trained with training data supplied by a user so that the NLG system is adapted to produce output that stylistically resembles such training data. In an example, an NLP system detects a plurality of linguistic features in the training data. These detected linguistic features are then aggregated into a specification data structure that is arranged for training the NLG system to produce natural language output that stylistically resembles the training data. Parameters in the specification data structure can be linked to objects in an ontology used by the NLG system to facilitate the training of the NLG system based on the detected linguistic features.