A Multi-Level Approach to Interlingual MT: Defining the Interface between Representational Languages

TitleA Multi-Level Approach to Interlingual MT: Defining the Interface between Representational Languages
Publication TypeJournal Articles
Year of Publication1996
AuthorsDorr BJ, Voss CR
JournalInternational Journal of Expert Systems
Volume9
Issue1
Pagination15 - 51
Date Published1996///
Abstract

This paper describes a multi-level design, i.e., a non-uniform approach to interlingual ma-chine translation (MT), in which distinct representational languages are used for di erent
types of knowledge. We demonstrate that a linguistically-motivated \division of labor"
across multiple representation levels has not complicated, but rather has readily facilitated,
the identi cation and construction of systematic relations at the interface between each
level. Our approach assumes an interlingua derived from the lexical semantics and predi-
cate decomposition approaches of Jackendo (1983; 1990) and Levin and Rappaport-Hovav
(1995a; 1995b). We describe a model of interpretation and representation of natural lan-
guage sentences which has been implemented as part of an interlingual MT system called
PRINCITRAN.