Bi-Lexical Rules for Multi-Lexeme Translation in Lexicalist MT

TL;DR

This paper introduces a lexicalist Machine Translation system utilizing bi-lexical rules and Qualia structures to improve multi-lexeme translation handling within a Shake-and-Bake framework.

Contribution

It presents a novel approach combining bi-lexical rules with Qualia structures for enhanced multi-lexeme translation in a lexicalist MT system.

Findings

Effective handling of multi-lexeme translations through bi-lexical rules.

Use of Qualia structures to restrict rule application.

Demonstrated applicability to various MT problems.

Abstract

The paper presents a prototype lexicalist Machine Translation system (based on the so-called `Shake-and-Bake' approach of Whitelock (1992) consisting of an analysis component, a dynamic bilingual lexicon, and a generation component, and shows how it is applied to a range of MT problems. Multi-Lexeme translations are handled through bi-lexical rules which map bilingual lexical signs into new bilingual lexical signs. It is argued that much translation can be handled by equating translationally equivalent lists of lexical signs, either directly in the bilingual lexicon, or by deriving them through bi-lexical rules. Lexical semantic information organized as Qualia structures (Pustejovsky 1991) is used as a mechanism for restricting the domain of the rules.