Twisted pair grammar: Support for rapid development of machine translation for low density languages

Abstract

We describe a streamlined knowledge acquisition method for semi-automatically constructing knowledge bases for a Knowledge Based Machine Translation (KBMT) system. This method forms the basis of a very simple Java-based user interface that enables a language expert to build lexical and syntactic transfer knowledge bases without extensive specialized training as an MT system builder. Following [Wu 1997], we assume that the permutation of binary-branching structures is a sufficient reordering mechanism for MT. Our syntactic knowledge is based on a novel, highly constrained grammar construction environment in which the only re-ordering mechanism is the permutation of binary-branching structures (Twisted Pair Grammar). We describe preliminary results for several fully implemented components of a Hindi/Urdu to English MT prototype being built with this interface.1.