Fijian and English/Lexical selection

eng → fij

• Case 1:

(eng) bend → (fij) pelu (e.g. bend of metal)

(eng) bend → (fij) lo’i (e.g. bend at a joint)

-Example Sentences:

• The youth bends the metal.
• The child bends at her waist.

-Rule 1: Select pelu as the translation of bend when it is followed by a kind of metal.

-Test after implementing the rule:

$ echo "The youth bends the metal." | apertium -d . eng-fij
A cauravou #pelu a kaukamea.

-Rule 2: Select lo’i as the translation of bend when it is followed by a noun related to a joint.

-Test:

$ echo "The child bends at her waist." | apertium -d . eng-fij
A gone #lo’i i  tolona.

• Case 2:

(eng) shine on → (fij) cina (light/torch shines on)

(eng) shine on → (fij) cila (sun/moon/star shines on)

-Example Sentences:

• The moon shines.
• The torch shines.

-Rule 1: Select cila as the translation of shine when it is preceded by sun, moon, stars or any natural light sources.

-Test after implementing the rule:

$ echo "The sun shines." | apertium -d . eng-fij
A siga #cila.

-Rule 2: Select cina as the translation of shine when it is preceded by torch, light, or any artificial light sources.

-Test:

echo "The torch shines." | apertium -d . eng-fij
A *torch #cina.

fij → eng

• Case 1:

(fij) vula → (eng) moon

(fij) vula → (eng) month

-Example Phrases:

• e tolu a vula (three months)
• a vula levu (the big moon)

-Rule 1: Select month as the translation of vula when it is preceded (not immediately) by a number:

-Test after implementing the rule:

$ echo "e tolu a vula" | apertium -d . fij-eng
#prpers #three the month

-Rule 2: Select moon as the translation of vula when it is surrounded by adjectives like bright, big, round, etc..

-Test:

$ echo "a vula levu" | apertium -d . fij-eng
the moon big

• Case 2:

(fij) sere → (eng) untie (O verb)

(fij) sere → (eng) sing (A verb)

-Example sentences:

• E sere a gone. (The child sings.)
• E sere a dali. (The rope is untied.)

-Rule 1: Select sing as the translation of sere when the subject is animate, e.g. when the Subject NP following it contains gone ('child') or cauravou ('youth') as the head noun:

  <rule>
    <match lemma="sere" tags="vblex.*">
      <select lemma="sing" tags="vblex.*"/>
    </match>
    <match tags="art"/>
    <or>
    <match lemma="gone" tags="n.*"/>
    <match lemma="cauravou" tags="n.*"/>
    </or>
  </rule>

-Test:

$ echo "E sere a gone." | apertium -d . fij-eng
#Prpers #sing the child.

-Rule 2: Select untie as the translation of sere when its subject is inanimate, e.g. when the Subject NP following it contains dali ('rope') as the head noun:

  <rule>
    <match lemma="sere" tags="vblex.*">
      <select lemma="untie" tags="vblex.*"/>
    </match>
    <match tags="art"/>
    <match lemma="dali" tags="n.*"/>
  </rule>

-Test: (*Problem: this rule failed to select untie as the translation.)

$ echo "E sere a dali." | apertium -d . fij-eng
#Prpers #sing the rope.

• Case 3.1:

(fij) yava → (eng) leg

(fij) yava → (eng) foot

• Case 3.2:

(fij) liga → (eng) arm

(fij) liga → (eng) hand

• Case 3.3:

(fij) mata → (eng) face

(fij) mata → (eng) eye

• Case 4:

(fij) basu → (eng) tear up (e.g. old clothes)

(fij) basu → (eng) tear down (e.g. old buildings)

• Case 5:Fijian does not distinguish genders on pronouns.

(fij) koya → (eng) him

(fij) koya → (eng) her

(fij) koya → (eng) it

• Case 6: (a disambiguation problem?)

The word levu can be used either as an adjective meaning "big", or a number meaning "many, much", but both numbers and adjectives can be a predicate head (like a verb).

(fij) levu → (eng) big (adj)

(fij) levu → (eng) a lot of (num)

The sentence E levu a vula. is ambiguous in Fijian, meaning either 'The moon is big.' or 'There are many months.'