Difference between revisions of "Contrastive grammar"

Revision as of 03:23, 21 March 2019

This document is in flux. Stand by while it's worked on. —Jwashin1 (talk) 15:03, 19 March 2019 (EDT)

A previous version of this document is available at Spring 2018/Contrastive grammar.

Some of the content that used to be here is now on the Lexical selection page.

What constitutes a contrastive grammar for RBMT

• Start by looking at material in the language you're translating into your language.
• For a given way of expressing the same thing (a translation, or equivalent sentence), find differences in the parse, ignoring the content of the lexical items.
• I.e., make sure the full version of the sentence in each language parses correctly (and has correct disambiguation), and then compare the parses side-by-side.
• You'll want to identify any differences in word order, tags used, etc.
  • An example of a set of similar languages might be:

    "Je le mangerai": ^je/je<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom>$ ^le/le<prn><pers><p3><m><acc>$ ^mangerais/manger<v><tv><fut><p1><sg>$

    "Yo lo comeré": ^yo/yo<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom>$ ^lo/lo<prn><pers><p3><m><acc>$ ^comeré/comer<v><tv><fut><p1><sg>$

  • An example of a set of rather different languages might be:

    "Yiyemeyeceğim": ^yiyemeyeceğim/ye<v><tv><abil><neg><fut>+i<cop><aor><p1><sg>$

    "I won't be able to eat it": ^I/I<prn><pers><p1><sg><subj>$ ^won't/will<vaux>+not<adv>$ ^be/be<v><iv>$ ^able/able<adj>$ ^to eat/eat<v><tv><inf>$ ^it/it<prn>pers><p3><nt><obj>$

• In the above example of similar languages, there are no differences in tags, only in stems. Here there is nothing to contrast. In the above example of different languages, there is quite a bit that can be contrasted—but almost too much to break down into individual points.
• An example of languages with some minor differences might be:

  • "Je l'ai vu": ^je/je<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom>$ ^l'ai/le<prn><pers><p3><m><acc>+avoir<vaux><pres><p1><sg>$ ^vu/voir<v><tv><prc_past>$

    "Yo lo vi": ^yo/yo<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom>$ ^lo/lo<prn><pers><p3><m><acc>$ ^vi/ver<v><tv><ifi><p1><sg>$

  • Here the difference is that one language uses the auxiliary with a participle where the other language uses a simple verb form
• Note that the following does not constitute a contrastive difference

  • "Je mange la glace": ^je/je<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom>$ ^mange/manger<v><tv><pres><p1><sg>$ ^la/le<det><def><f>$ ^glace/glace<n><f>$

    "Yo como el hielo": ^yo/yo<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom>$ ^como/comer<v><tv><pres><p1><sg>$ ^el/el<det><def><m>$ ^hielo/hielo<n><m>$

  • This is still useful to note, as it can still be implemented as a transfer rule.

The examples above using templates

• (fra) Je le mangerai → (spa) Yo lo comeré ("I'll eat it.")

  (fra) je<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom> le<prn><pers><p3><m><acc> manger<v><tv><fut><p1><sg> → (spa) yo<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom> lo<prn><pers><p3><m><acc> comer<v><tv><fut><p1><sg>

The assignment

This assignment is due at the end of the 8th week of class (this semester: Friday, March 23rd, 2018 at 23:59, i.e., by midnight)

Contrastive grammar

1. Create a page on the wiki named "LanguageX and LanguageY/Contrastive Grammar". Add it to the category Category:Sp19_ContrastiveGrammars and the categories for the two languages. Add a link to the page under "Developed resources" on the main page.
2. Using the ten sentences with all stems translated from the lexical transfer assignment, identify at least five differences between the two languages.
   • These can be anything where the analyses of equivalent phrases look different when the roots are ignored: i.e., differences in tags used (will appear as # in full pipeline output), differences in basic word order, etc.
3. Document these differences on the wiki.
   • You'll want on the order of two or three examples of each grammatical difference.
   • Make a section on the Contrastive Grammar page for "xyz-abc tests"
     • If you're doing two-way translation (i.e., you've joined forces with another group and each half of the group is working on a separate direction), then also add a section called "abc-xyz tests".
     • In this case, each section will have equivalent tests, but in opposite directions.
   • Use the TransferMorphTest and TransferTest templates as used above and on the Transfer rules page.