Proceedings of the International Conference on Scientific Information Two Volumes (1959) / Chapter Skim
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The Analogy between Mechanical Translation and Library Retrieval
The Analogy between Mechanical Translation and Library Retrieval
Pages 917-936
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From page 917... ...
We desire to draw the converse analogy; that is, to assimilate mechanical translation to library retrieval. To do this, mechanical translation procedures must be generalised and made interTingual, until they become as general as library retrieval procedures already are.
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From page 918... ...
The proposal that an improved type of library retrieval procedure could be devised, using a thesaurus, of the type of Roget's famous Thesaurus, instead of a term classification, has already been made by American workers in this field (2,3~. The proposal that semantic meaning can be translated using a thesaurus was first made by the Cambridge Language Research Unit (England)
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From page 919... ...
It could be said, indeed, that a library classification is like a non-grammatical language and that a thesauric library retrieval procedure could therefore hope to retrieve from it. But it is obvious, so the argument runs, that any mechanical translarion procedure.
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From page 920... ...
does not straightforwardly translate between two languages. What such a translation programme does, when used with, e.g., a technical mathematical dictionary and a general dictionary containing the common words of the language, is successfully to translate English mathematical texts into Russian.
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From page 921... ...
We propose that this research should be pursued by substituting for the particularised methods of linguistic analysis at present in use among workers on M.T. the completely generalised methods at present in use in library retrieval; that these, having been given thesauric linguistic application, should be put on a machine, and the results examined.
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From page 922... ...
Basically, therefore, Halliday makes first a monolingual grammar, and then an interlingual analysis of each language, the latter being quite distinct from the former. The monolingual grammar resembles those of descriptive linguists, except that it refers only to operators; the arguments are later defined by referring to the operators.
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From page 923... ...
It is no coincidence, therefore, that it is the only unit which is simultaneously investigating procedures for mechanical translation, library retrieval, and mechanical abstracting. Although it is almost universally assumed, by mechanical translation research groups, that it is the linguist, not the mathematician, who provides the computer programmer with the data for the translation programme, we contest this.
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From page 924... ...
We hold not only that such a system can exist, but also that it does exist as soon as the output language is analysed, not as a dictionary but as a thesaurus. The interlingual system required for mechanical translation and library retrieval alike is thus not a new interlingual language.
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From page 925... ...
In practice, both for library retrieval and for translation, it iS SO important to be able to locate the end points of the semantic transformation procedure that the thesaurus itself is always used in conjunction with a cross-reference dictionary. In Roget's Thesaurus the thesaurus itself occupies only the first half of the book; all the second half is occupied by a cross-reference dictionary in which those words of the English language which occur in the thesaurus are listed alphabetically, each word being followed by a list of the numbers of the thesaurus heads in which the word occurs.
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From page 926... ...
It gives a general solution for semantic problems; that is, those arising from the unusual use of words or from multiple meaning. It deals therefore, and by a single procedure, with the most difficult problems facing alike mechanical translation research, and research into methods of mechanising information retrieval, and methods of mechanising the process of sub-titling and abstracting.
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From page 927... ...
We now have to ask, can a thesaurus procedure derived from these be used to translate? For all Halliday's questions can be rephrased as single words; these, in turn, can be replaced by thesaurus heads; and these, by their nature, will yield an English output, when the thesaurus-lists are in English.
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From page 928... ...
NEEDHAM and T JOYCE, The Thesaurus Approach to Information Retrieval, Am.
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From page 929... ...
programme might be developed (given an imaginary computer of indefinitely expandable size) in which the multilingual dictionary might be replaced by a target language thesaurus." A brief account of the programme which was developed and the thesaurus using translation experiment which was carried out on an Italian paragraph, is given below.
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From page 930... ...
This was improved by using a syntax lattice proceclure which gave synthesis routines, and the following pidgin translation was obtained: THE PRODUCE-MENT OF VARIETY-S OF PLANT-S WITHOUT AXIL-ARY BUD-S, OR AT LEAST WITH SPROUT-S AT REDUCED DEVELOPMENT-S, INTEREST FOR SOME TIME PAST GENETIC-IST-S AND AGRICULTURE-IST-S.
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From page 931... ...
. ESSENCE-S If the chunks FOREST AND FRUIT-BEARING ESSENCE-S are matched with the chunks in the cross-reference dictionary of the thesaurus, the following output is obtained: forest Head no.
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From page 932... ...
A comparison, or intersection operation on two thesaurus heads is permitted only if there is some relation between the chunks from which the heads are derived. In this test the relationship is determined by the syntax lattice: an intersection is permitted only if the points on the syntax lattice corresponding to the chunks have an inclusion relation between them.
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From page 933... ...
Operation 4 List the common elements (or words) given by the intersection of the thesaurus heads; i.e., those words common to the lists of synonyms given for the separate heads.
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From page 934... ...
When the original paper was written the problems of analysing syntax were considerable and were thought unconnected with the thesaurus procedure for semant~cs. APPENDIX 2 The briefaccount given below is taken from those parts of"The Thesaurus Approach to Information Retrieval," by R
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From page 935... ...
This makes allowance for loose description and also for structure. This ordering is in eject making a thesaurus; each term can from this point of view be described as a head, and the inclusion relations of the terms correspond to the general-specific relations of a group of thesaurus heads, if we discuss the thesaurus in the terms of the ideal rather than the actual.
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