Semitic Linguistic Phenomena

1
Semitic Linguistic Phenomena
MT Summit IX Workshop Machine Translation for
Semitic Languages

• Nizar Habash
• University of MarylandInstitute for Advanced
  Computer Studies

2
Road Map

• Introduction
• Orthography
• Morphology
• Syntax
• Translation Divergences
• Conclusion

3
Introduction

• What this talk is about
• Introduction to non-experts
• Similarities that define Semitic
• Differences within the family
• Most researchers focus on one Semitic language
• Modern Standard Arabic (henceforth, A)
• Modern Hebrew (H)
• Arabic Dialect Palestinian Arabic (henceforth P)
• Issues relevance to NLP, MT

4
Orthography Phonology
5
Orthography Script

• Alphabets
• Graphemic Variants
• ? ??? (27 out of 36), ? ? (5 out of 22)
• Encoding issues
• Optional diacritics
• Some Vowels ?? ?? ?? ??
• Lack of vowel ?? ??
• Consonantal Doubling ?? ??

6
Orthography Spelling

• Mostly consonantal Spelling
• ???? slam salam, ???? lwm alom
• Dual use of (a w y ??? ? ? ?) as consonant and
  vowel
• Diacritics as semantic markers
• ???? (male) ???? (to remember) zaxar
• ??? (to write kataba) ???? (to be written kutiba)

7
Orthography Spelling

• Hebrew
• Full Spelling, Defective Spelling (????
  ???,???? ???)
• kotel ???? ??? (wall)
• Arabic
• Morphophonemic Spelling
• Feminine Marker ? (ta marbuta)
• ???? (big ?) ????? (big ?)
• Derivation Marker
• hawa (to love ???) (air ???)
• Hamza Variants (6 characters for one phoneme)
• (? ?????) ???? ????? ?????

8
Orthography Ambiguity
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
a

t
b
j
?
x
h
d
d
z
r
s

c
T
D


k
g
q
f
l
m
h
n
w
y
u
i
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
a
v
b
d
g
u
h
z
o
t
x
i
y
e
l
k
n
m
ts
s
p
f
r

9
Morphology Derivational

• Roots and Patterns
• Meaning
• (Root.MeaningPattern.Meaning)Idiosyncrasy.Rando
  m

?
?
?
?
?
?
K T B
?
?
??
?
?
?
?
?
?
????
?????
10
Morphology Root Meaning

• KTB writing stuff

???? book
write
???
???
???? spelling
????? library
letter
????
?????
????? address
???? office
writer
???
????
11
Morphology Root Meaning

• LHM-1

??? laHm
??? lexem
12
Morphology Root Meaning

• LHM-2 (battle sense)
• ?????
• Fierce battle, massacre, epic
• ????? ????? ??? ???? ?????
• War, battle, quarrel, conflict, combat, warfare,
  belligerence, fighting, quarreling, militant,
  militarism, militancy, bellicosity

13
Morphology Root Meaning

• LHM-2 (Solder sense)
• ??? ????? ????? ????? ?????
• Weld, solder, get stuck, cling together, merged,
  fused, kinship
• ??? ????? ????? ????
• Solder, soldered, soldering iron,

14
Morphology Root Meaning

• LHM-4 (Conjuctiva sense)
• ?????
• conjunctiva
• ?????
• conjunctiva

15
Morphology Noun Inflections
conj

• ????????
• ?? ???? ? ?
• And-like-houses-our
• And like our houses
• ?????
• ??????
• That-in-the-house
• Which is in the house
• Arabic Broken Plurals
• Hebrew Ambiguous definiteness

prep
noun
plural
article
poss
16
Morphology Verb Inflections
A ???????? And-will-we-write-it And we will
write it H ??????? And-loved-I-her And I loved
her P ?????????????? And-not-will-use-you-for-it
-not And you will not use for it
conj
verb
neg
tense
IOBJ
subj
object
17
Morphology Verb Inflections

• Perfect Verb Derivation
• Suffixes only
• Imperfect Verb Derivation
• PrefixSuffix
• A, H and P are very similar verb derivation BUT
  the semantics are not

18
Morphology Verb Inflections
19
Sentence Structure

• Sentence structure
• Copular sentences
• Verbal sentences
• Copular sentences
• Topic ? Complement
• Definite ? Indefinite
• ????? ???? ???? ????
• The-dog big

topic
comp
???
????
dog
big
20
Sentence Structure

• Verbal sentences
• A Verb Subject Object
• ??? ??????? ???????
• Wrote the-children the-poems
• H, P Subject Verb Object
• ??????? ???? ???????
• The-children wrote the-poems
• ?????? ???? ?? ??????
• The-children wrote obj the-poems

21
Noun Phrase

• Noun ? Adjective
• Noun-Adjective Agreement
• number, gender, definiteness

22
Noun Phrase

• ????? / ?????? (idafa/smixut)
• Noun1 of Noun2 encoded structurally
• Noun1-indefinite ? Noun2-definite
• ??? ?????? ??? ?????
• king Jordan the king of Jordan / Jordans king
• Noun1 Form Change
• Feminine (H and PA)
• ????? ???? ? ???? ????? Queen of Jordan
• Plural (A and H)
• ????? ????? ? ????? ???? Kings of Jordan
• Alternatives (only H and PA)
• Noun1 ltparticlegt Noun2
• ????? ??? ?????? the-king belonging-to Jordan
• ???? ?? ????? the-king that-for Jordan

23
Translation Divergences

• Variations beyond syntax
• How languages map semantics to syntax
• As complex as any other language at this depth
• Divergence Dimensions
• Categorial Variation
• Conflation
• Inflation
• Structural
• Head Swap
• Thematic

24
Translation Divergences


be
? ??
?????
??
?
I
cold
???
??? ????? I coldADJ
I am cold
?? ?? coldADJ for-me
25
Translation Divergences

have
??
subj
pred
???
???
I
dog
???
?
??? ??
???
???? ??? at-me dog
I have a dog
?? ?? ??? there for-me dog
26
Translation Divergences
???
find
???
??? ???
???
I
man
???
??
???
???
???? ??? ????? found-I upon the-man
I found the man
????? ?? ???? found-I obj the-man
27
Translation Divergences
???
find
???
??? ???
???
I
man
??? ??
????
???
???? ??? ????? found-I upon the-man
I found the man
???? ?????? found-I the-man
28
Translation Divergences
I swam across the river quickly
????? ???? ????? ????? I-sped crossing the-river
swimming
29
Translation Divergences
????? ?? ???? ????? ??????? I-crossed obj river
in-swim speedily
I swam across the river quickly
30
Translation Divergences
31
Translation Divergences
be
???

I
here
not
? ??
???
??
??
???
??? ??? I-am-not here
I am not here
?? ?? ??? I not here
32
Conclusion

• Many defining features of Semitic Family
• Many variations that create different kinds of
  ambiguities
• At certain depth, Semitic languages are quite
  different