nl-kr-request@CS.ROCHESTER.EDU (NL-KR Moderator Brad Miller) (05/17/88)
NL-KR Digest (5/16/88 18:47:27) Volume 4 Number 52
Today's Topics:
Re: help
Seminar: Semantics of Verbal Modifiers ... (UNISYS)
CMU/CMT Conference Brochure
Submissions: NL-KR@CS.ROCHESTER.EDU
Requests, policy: NL-KR-REQUEST@CS.ROCHESTER.EDU
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Date: Fri, 6 May 88 20:39 EDT
From: John Chambers <jc@minya.UUCP>
Subject: Re: help
In article <354@aplcomm.UUCP>, jwm@stdc.jhuapl.edu (James W. Meritt) writes:
>
> Would someone please email/post proofs/disproofs/references to the following:
>
> "Any statement in one language can be translated into any other without loss"
>
As stated, this certainly requires qualifications, as it is demonstrably false
in a rather trivial sense. Consider the Null language, i.e., the one with no
words or syntax or anything else. If this is the target language, then the
above statement is obviously false.
The above statement is true, however, in a rather important sense, if you will
allow two qualifications:
1) The two language are both "natural" languages in routine use by groups
of people for several generations (i.e., no pidgins allowed); and
2) The translation may have (many) more words than the original.
Without the second qualification, it is very easy to find counter-examples.
You just make a statement in language X which uses some very vague, general
words for which language Y has only a set of more precise words.
One example from English is the word "go", which is more general than the
available words in many other languages. Thus, a correct translation of
"I'm going to the store" would require NOT indicating whether I intend to
walk or ride, as well as not indicating whether I'm doing it right now or
intend to in the near future. Both forms of vagueness are difficult to
express in German or Russian (two languages with which I have some familarity).
The meaning of the quoted proposition is twofold. First, it is certainly
possible to make a simple statement in German or Russian with a very similar
effect, although it may contain more information than the English. Second,
with a few extra words, it is rather easy to explain the meaning of this
simple English statement in German or Russian. The fact that an exact,
word-for-word translation isn't possible doesn't mean that the concepts
can't be communicated. You can always get the concepts across; you just
might require a bit of explaining along the way.
The primary "proof" of this proposition is done by challenging a disbeliever
to give a statement in some language X which can't be expressed (to any level
of detail desired) in language Y, where X and Y can range across all the
languages spoken on the planet. It turns out to be remarkably difficult
to find such a statement.
There are, of course, many claims in the media to the effect that "the
concept C can't be expressed in language L". These are invariably quite
false; all you have to do is find a native speaker of L, and you'll get
a translation quite quickly (if he/she understands the English statement).
It'd be real interesting to find such an example. Most linguists believe
it can't be done.
--
John Chambers <{adelie,ima,maynard,mit-eddie}!minya!{jc,root}> (617/484-6393)
You can't make a turtle come out.
-- Malvina Reynolds
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Date: Tue, 10 May 88 15:18 EDT
From: finin@PRC.Unisys.COM
Subject: Seminar: Semantics of Verbal Modifiers ... (UNISYS)
AI SEMINAR
UNISYS PAOLI RESEARCH CENTER
Defining the Semantics of Verbal Modifiers
in the Domain of Cooking Tasks
Robin F. Karlin
Computer and Information Science
University of Pennsylvania
SEAFACT (Semantic Analysis For the Animation of Cooking Tasks) is a
natural language interface to a computer-generated animation system
operating in the domain of cooking tasks. SEAFACT allows the user to
specify cooking tasks using a small subset of English. The system
analyzes English input and produces a representation of the task which
can drive motion synthesis procedures. This talk describes the
semantic analysis of verbal modifiers on which the SEAFACT
implementation is based.
2:00 pm Tuesday, May 19
Paoli Auditorium
Unisys Paoli Research Center
Route 252 and Central Ave.
Paoli PA 19311
-- non-Unisys visitors who are interested in attending should --
-- send email to finin@prc.unisys.com or call 215-648-7446 --
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 May 88 22:48 EDT
From: Rita.McCardell@NL.CS.CMU.EDU
Subject: CMU/CMT Conference Brochure
Second International Conference on Theoretical and
Methodological Issues in Machine Translation of Natural Languages
June 12 - 14, 1988
Hamburg Hall
Center for Machine Translation
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213
*** Purpose ***
The field of Machine Translation (MT) has gradually regained its
importance as an academic discipline and an engineering application. The
number of research teams in MT has grown significantly over the past five
years, and correspondingly, the rate of progress, measured both in the
scientific output and the technological innovation has become increasingly
steep. The requirements for information exchange in the field have grown
accordingly. The conference is aimed at fulfilling that requirement for
information exchange.
*** Topics of the Conference ***
The conference will cover a wide set of interrelated topics in machine
translation including: parsing, generation, computational lexicons, multiple
approaches to translation (knowledge-based, interactive, post and pre-editing,
etc...), theoretical and comparative analysis, case studies, computational
tools for the system developer or translator, and new algorithms and
architectures for natural language processing.
*** Center for Machine Translation ***
The Center for Machine Translation was established at Carnegie Mellon
University in July 1986. The center is dedicated to the development of a
new generation of machine translation systems with capabilities ranging
far beyond the current technology. Current research initiatives include:
knowledge-based machine translation, knowledge representation and
acquisition, unification algorithms, multilingual parsing algorithms,
fluent text generation and development of computational lexicons,
grammars and knowledge bases.
*** Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University ***
Pittsburgh has been identified as the nation's most livable city according
to the Rand McNally survey based on education, recreation, the arts,
housing, health care, low crime rate, favorable cost of living,
economics and transportation. Pittsburgh is the home of the world
acclaimed Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater
and Pittsburgh Opera.
Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh are the most
prominent of about 30 universities and colleges in the vicinity of the city.
Carnegie Mellon is a leader in computer science, robotics
and artificial intelligence.
*** Registration ***
Preregistration must be received by May 1, 1988. However, LATE
REGISTRATIONS BY MAIL WILL BE ACCEPTED UNTIL JUNE 3, 1988. After June 3,
please wait to register at the conference itself.
Registration Meals(*) Total Students
By May 1 $45 $75 $120 $90
Late $65 $75 $140 $110
Registration
(*) Meals include coffee breaks, 3 luncheons, reception and Banquet.
We recommend that the participants select the meal plan.
*** Conference Program and Schedule ***
Saturday, June 11
Participants arrive in Pittsburgh
Sunday, June 12
--- General Session ---
8:30 am Registration/Coffee & Donuts
8:50 am Welcome
--- Session 1: Issues in Analysis I ---
9:00 am "Meaning Understanding in Machine Translation"
Hirosato Nomura, Kyushu Institute of Technology (Japan)
9:30 am "Coordination: Some Problems and Solutions for Parsing
English with an ATN"
Lee Ann Schwartz, Pan American Health Organization (United States)
10:00 am "A Method of Analyzing Japanese Speech Act Types"
Kiyoshi Kogure, Hitoshi Iida, Kei Yoshimoto, Hiroyuki Maeda,
Masako Kume, Susumu Kato, ATR (Japan)
10:30 am COFFEE
--- Session 2: Issues in Generation ---
11:00 am "On Lexical Selection in MT Generation"
Sergei Nirenburg, Rita McCardell, Eric Nyberg, Scott Huffman,
Edward Kenschaft, Irene Nirenburg, Carnegie Mellon University
(United States)
11:30 am "Natural Language Generation using the Meaning Text Model"
Richard Kittredge, A. Polguere, L. Jordanskaya
University of Montreal (Canada)
--- Session 3: EUROTRA Perspectives ---
Noon "'Relaxed' Compositionality in MT"
Doug Arnold, University of Essex (United Kingdom)
Steven Krauwer, Louis des Tombe
University of Utrecht (Netherlands)
Louisa Sadler, University of Essex (United Kingdom)
12:30 pm "CAT2 - Implementing a Formalism for Multi-Lingual MT"
Randall Sharp, IAI (West Germany)
1:00 pm LUNCH
--- Panel 1: Real-Time Interpretive MT ---
2:30 pm Masaru Tomita (Chair), Carnegie Mellon University (United States)
Shin-ya Amano, Toshiba (Japan)
Raj Reddy, Carnegie Mellon University (United States)
Akira Kurematsu, ATR (Japan)
4:00 pm DEMONSTRATIONS
5:30 pm RECEPTION
6:30 pm DINNER
Monday, June 13
8:30 am Coffee & Donuts
--- Session 4: Grammatical Issues ---
9:00 am "Functional Descriptions as a Formalism for Linguistic Knowledge
Representation in a Generation Oriented Approach"
Miyo Otani, Nathalie Simonin, Cap Sogeti Innovation (France)
9:30 am "Computational Complexity of Left-Associative Grammar"
Roland Hausser, Universitat Munchen (West Germany)
10:00 am "Reversible Logic Grammars for MT"
Pierre Isabelle, Canadian Workplace Automation Research Center
(Canada)
10:30 am COFFEE
--- Session 5: System Descriptions ---
11:00 am "ETOC: A MAHT System Using Approximate Text-Matching
Based on Heuristic Rules"
E. Sumita, Y. Tsutsumi, IBM (Japan)
11:30 am "ATLAS: A MT System by Interlingua"
Hiroshi Uchida, Fujitsu (Japan)
Noon "Translational Ambiguity Rephrased"
Danit Ben-Ari, Mory Rimon, IBM (Israel)
Daniel M. Berry, Technion (Israel)
12:30 pm "A Principle-based Korean/Japanese MT System: NARA"
Hee-Sung Chung, E & I Research (Korea)
1:00 pm LUNCH
--- Session 6: Issues in Analysis II ---
2:30 pm "A Comparative Study of Japanese and English Sublanguage Patterns"
Virginia Teller, Hunter College SUNY (United States)
Michiko Kosaka, Monmouth College (United States)
Ralph Grishman, New York University (United States)
3:00 pm "Noun Phrase Identification in Dialogue and its Application"
Izuru Nogaito, Hitoshi Iida, ATR (Japan)
3:30 pm COFFEE
--- Panel 2: Paradigms for MT ---
4:00 pm Jaime Carbonell (Chair), Carnegie Mellon University
(United States)
Harold Sommers, UMIST (United Kingdom)
Peter Brown, IBM (United States)
Victor Raskin, Purdue University (United States)
6:00 pm DINNER - Mt. Washington (**)
Tuesday, June 14
8:30 am Coffee & Donuts
--- Session 7: Methodological Considerations ---
9:00 am "Methodological Considerations in the METAL Project"
Winfield Bennett, University of Texas (United States)
9:30 am "Application of a Natural Language Interface to a MT Problem"
John S. White, Heidi M. Johnson, Yukiko Sekine
Martin Marietta Corporation (United States)
Gil C. Kim, Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
(Korea)
10:00 am "Complex Procedures for MT Quality"
Michael Zarechnak, Georgetown University (United States)
10:30 am COFFEE
--- Panel 3: Historical Perspectives ---
11:00 am Makoto Nagao (Chair), Kyoto University (Japan)
Christian Boitet, Universite de Grenoble (France)
Rolf Stachowitz, Lockheed Artificial Intelligence Center
(United States)
12:30 pm LUNCH and CONCLUDING REMARKS
*** Special Events ***
(**) Ride the century-old Duquesne incline to reach the observation deck for
a spectacular view of the city. Then enjoy a dinner on Mt. Washington
overlooking the famous Golden Triangle, formed at the union of the
Allegheny, Monangahela and Ohio rivers in the heart of Pittsburgh.
Rides to Mt. Washington leave at 6:00 p.m., June 13, from the conference
site. Price $45.00.
*** Accommodations & Transportation ***
*** Student Dormitories ***
A block of undergraduate dormitory rooms has been reserved for those
participants desiring inexpensive rooms situated on the Carnegie Mellon
campus, the site of the conference. These are single rooms in Morewood
Gardens, with a semi-private bath (two single rooms share one bath),
at $20.00, per night. Rooms will be available on a first-come,
first-serve basis. If you are interested in reserving a single accommodation
at Morewood Gardens, please promptly mail in the enclosed registration form.
*** University Inn ***
Fifty single rooms have also been blocked at the University Inn, Oakland,
a fifteen minute walk from the campus. The University Inn accommodations
will also be assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis. Reservations
may be made directly with the hotel by calling 412-683-6000, toll free (800)
242-1498 in Pennsylvania or toll free (800) 245-6675 in the United States.
When reserving a room specify the conference name, MT CONFERENCE, to receive
the discounted single room rate of $63.00 per night.
*** Alternate Pittsburgh Hotels ***
The following is a list of addresses and telephone numbers for deluxe hotels
(price range $80 to $120) located within the city. Please be aware that it
would be necessary for those participants staying at any of the following
hotels to provide their own transportation to the conference site. For your
convenience we suggest that you make the reservations as soon as possible
since there are other major events occurring at the same time as the
conference at Carnegie Mellon University.
Sheraton Hotel Vista Hotel
at Station Square 960 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Pittsburgh, PA 15222
412-261-2000 412-281-3700
Hyatt Hotel William Penn Hotel
112 Washington Place William Penn Place
Pittsburgh, PA 15222 Pittsburgh, PA 15222
412-471-1234 412-281-7100
*** Airport Limousine Service ***
Limousine service is available between Greater Pittsburgh International
Airport and Oakland. Enquire about "Ground Transportation" at the airport.
This service provides direct transportation from the airport to the
University Inn, Oakland, Sheraton Hotel at Station Square, and the
William Penn Hotel - Downtown. Please make sure you board the correct
limousine.
*** Program Committee: ***
Chistian Boitet, University of Grenoble
Jaime G. Carbonell, Carnegie Mellon University
Martin Kay, Xerox-Palo Alto Research Center
Makoto Nagao, Kyoto University
Sergei Nirenburg, Carnegie Mellon University
Victor Raskin, Purdue University
Masaru Tomita, Carnegie Mellon University
Requests for more information or applications contact:
MT CONFERENCE:
Center for Machine Translation
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
(412) 268-6591
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REGISTRATION FORM
MT Conference, June 12-14, 1988
CMT, Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213-3890
Name: ________________________________________________________________________
Address: _____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Telephone: ___________________________________________________________________
Computer Net Address: ________________________________________________________
*** Conference Registration Fee: ***
Standard ______ $140.00 (US$)
Student ______ $110.00 (US$)
Mt. Washington Dinner ______ $ 45.00 (US$)
*** Student Dormitories ***
Single Room x _____days $________ (US$) (for the days from: _____
at $20/night to: _____)
Total Enclosed $________ (US$)
Male _____
Female _____
Please make the checks payable to "MT CONFERENCE".
Checks must be issued in US DOLLARS.
------------------------------
End of NL-KR Digest
*******************
----
Brad Miller U. Rochester Comp Sci Dept.
miller@cs.rochester.edu {...allegra!rochester!miller}