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Systematic Verb Polysemy in MT: A Study of Danish Motion Verbs with Comparisons with Spanish

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Machine Translation

Abstract

In this paper we propose a semantic apparatus based on Frame Semanticswhich enables us to treat the systematic polysemy of Danish motionverbs in a satisfactory way in relation to Machine Translation (MT).Abandoning the strategy applied in more traditional MT systems whererelated and unrelated meanings are in essence treated alike, i.e. asunrelated, we suggest an approach where relatedness in meaning isexpressed via frame element assignments and where systematicallyderived senses can thus be generated on the basis of prototypicalsenses. By contrasting Danish data with Spanish, we demonstrate thatthe identified meaning variations in Danish motion verbs are crucialnot only for analysis but also in the transfer phase where deviationsin evoked frame elements prove to trigger translations which differfrom the “prototypical” translations of the relevant verbs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Sprogteknologi, Københavns Universitet, Njalsgade 80, DK-2300, S, Copenhagen, Denmark. E-mail

    Bolette Sandford Pedersen

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Pedersen, B.S. Systematic Verb Polysemy in MT: A Study of Danish Motion Verbs with Comparisons with Spanish. Machine Translation 14, 35–82 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008183205171

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008183205171