Semitic Linguistic Phenomena and Variations

Nizar Habash

University of MarylandInstitute for Advanced Computer Studies

MT Summit IX Workshop

Machine Translation for Semitic Languages

Road Map

• Introduction

• Orthography

• Morphology

• Syntax

• Translation Divergences

• Conclusion

Introduction

• What this talk is about– Similarities that define “the Semitic family”

– Variations differentiating members within the family

– Similarities do not go beyond morphology and syntax

– Relevance to NLP and MT

• Most researchers focus on one Semitic language– Modern Standard Arabic (henceforth, A)

– Modern Hebrew (henceforth, H)

– Arabic Dialect: Palestinian Arabic (henceforth, P)

Road Map

• Introduction• Orthography

– Phonology– Scripts– Spelling– Ambiguity

• Morphology• Syntax• Translation Divergences• Conclusion

Orthography: Phonology

Consonant Vowels Script

A 28 6 3 short

3 longعربي36 graphemes

H 18 5 עברית22 graphemes

P 28 10 5 short

5 longعربي?36 graphemes

Orthography: Script• Alphabets

– Graphemic Variants

– ككك (out of 22 5) כ ך ,(out of 36 27) ك– Encoding issues

• Optional diacritics– Some Vowels Aש Cש س س� – Lack of vowel Dس�ש

– Consonantal Doubling ש س

Orthography: Spelling

• Mostly consonantal Spelling– ʃlvm = ʃalom = שלום ,slam = salām = سالم – Dual use of (a w/v j א ו י اوي ) as consonant and

vowel

• Diacritics as semantic markers– ר Mזכ (zaxar male) ר Cזכ (zaxar to remember)

– تب (kataba to write) كتب (kutiba to be written) ك

Orthography: Spelling• Hebrew

– Full Spelling, “Defective” Spelling ( כתיב חסר,כתיב מלא )– kotel כתל תלוכ (wall)

• Arabic – Morphophonemic Spelling

– Feminine Marker ة (ta marbuta)• ةكبير (♂ kabīr big) كبير (kabīra big ♀)

– Derivation Marker• hawa (to love ىهو ) (air اهو )

– Hamza Variants (6 characters for one phoneme)• ( أآإؤئ بها ؤبها ءبها (ء هئه

Orthography: Ambiguity

ā ʔt bʤθx ħđ dz rss ʃt dʕ d -Z

k ʁq flm

ثت يوهنملكقفغعظطضصشسزرذدخحجبا ى ةئؤإآأء

h nwj ūī

av bd gu hz ot xij el kn mts sp frʃ

תכיטחזוהדגבא ש ר ק צ פעסנמל

A

H

Orthography: Ambiguity

ā ʔt bʤθx ħđ dz rss ʃt dʕ d -k ʁq flm

ثت يوهنملكقفغعظطضصشسزرذدخحجبا ى ةئؤإآأء

h nwj ūī

av bd gu hz ot xij el kn mts sp frʃ

תכיטחזוהדגבא ש ר ק צ פעסנמל

P

H

ōē z

Road Map

• Introduction• Orthography• Morphology

– Derivational– Inflectional

• Noun Inflections• Verb Inflections

• Syntax• Translation Divergences• Conclusion

Morphology: Derivational• Roots and Patterns

Meaning = (Root.Meaning+Pattern.Meaning)*Idiosyncrasy.Random

مكتوب

ب K T B

و? ??م�

تك

כתוב

ב

ו? ??

תכ

Morphology: Root Meaning

• KTB: writing “stuff”

כתב

מכתב

כתב

כתיבspelling

כתובתaddress

كتب

كاتب

مكتوب

كتابbook

مكتبةlibrary

مكتبoffice

write

writer

letter

Morphology: Root Meaning

لحمlaHm

לחםlexem

• LHM-1

• LHM-2 (battle sense)– ملحمة

• Fierce battle, massacre, epic

– מלחמה לוחמה לחם לוחם לחימה

• War, battle, quarrel, conflict, combat, warfare, belligerence, fighting, quarreling, fighter, militarism, militancy, bellicosity

Morphology: Root Meaning

• LHM-3 (Solder sense)– ملتحم التحم تالحم لحم

لحمة• Weld, solder, get stuck,

cling together, merged, fused, kinship

– לחם הלחים מולחם מלחם

• Solder, soldered, soldering iron,

Morphology: Root Meaning

• LHM-4 (Conjuctiva sense)– لحمية

• conjunctiva

– לחמית• conjunctiva

Morphology: Root Meaning

Morphology: Noun Inflections

conj

prep

noun

posspluralarticle

وكبيوتناو +ك + بيوت + نا

And-like-houses-ourAnd like our houses

שבביתבית+ה+ב+ש

That-in-the-houseWhich is in the house

•Arabic Broken Plurals•Hebrew Ambiguous definiteness

conj

verb

IOBJobject

neg

subj

Morphology: Verb Inflections

tense

A: وسنكتبهاAnd-will-we-write-itAnd we will write it

H: ואהבתיהAnd-loved-I-herAnd I loved her

P: لوشحتستعمليماوAnd-not-will-use-you-for-it-notAnd you will not use for it

Morphology: Verb Inflections• Perfect Verb Derivation (Suffixes only)

1st Person Singular 2nd Person Singular ♂ 2nd Person Singular ♀

A تكتب katabtu ت�كتب katabta تBكتب katabti

H תיכתב katavti תכתב katavta תכתב katavt

P تكتب katabt تيكتب katabti

• Imperfect Verb Derivation (Prefix+Suffix)1st Person Singular 2nd Person Singular ♂ 2nd Person Singular ♀

A كتبا aktubu taktubu تكتب ين�كتبت taktubīna

H כתובא extov כתובת textov יכתבת textevi

P كتبا aktob كتبت toktob يكتبت toktobi

Perfect Imperfect Participle

Hכתבkatav

Past

יכתובjixtov

Future

כותבkotev

Present

Aكتبkataba

Past

يكتبjaktubu

Present

يكتبسsajaktubu

Future

كاتبkātib

0-Tense

Pكتبkatab

Past

يكتبjiktob

0-Tense

يكتبحħajiktob

Future

يكتبب bjoktob

Present

كاتبkāteb

0-Tense

Morphology: Semantics of Verb Inflections

Road Map

• Introduction• Orthography• Morphology• Syntax

– Sentence Structure

– Noun Phrase Structure

• Translation Divergences• Conclusion

Sentence Structure

• Sentence structure– Copular sentences– Verbal sentences

• Copular sentences– Topic Complement– Definite Indefinite– كبير ال כלב גדולה كلب– The-dog big

*كلب كبير

topic comp

dog big

Sentence Structure

• Verbal sentences– The children wrote the poems

– A: Verb Subject Object• االشعار كتب االوالد• Wrote the-children the-poems

– H, P: Subject Verb Object• את השיריםכתבוהילדים

• The-children wrote obj the-poems

• االشعار كتبواالوالد • The-children wrote the-poems

Noun Phrase

• Noun Adjective • Noun-Adjective Agreement

– number, gender, definiteness

a big dog ♂ a big dog♀ big dogs♂ the big dog ♂

كبير كلب كبيرة كلبة كبار كالب كبيرالكلب ال

כלב גדול כלבה גדולה כלבים גדולים גדולהכלב ה

dog♂ big♂ dog♀ big♀ dogs♂ big♂+pl the-dog♂ the-big♂

Noun Phrase

• סמיכות / اضافة (idafa/smixut)• Noun1 of Noun2 encoded structurally

– Noun1-indefinite Noun2-definite– االردن מלך ירדןملك– king Jordan = the king of Jordan / Jordan’s king

• Noun1 Form Change– Feminine (H and P)

• מלכה + ירדן ירדןמלכת Queen of Jordan – Plural (A and H)

• מלכים + ירדן מלכי ירדן Kings of Jordan • Alternatives (only H and P)

– Noun1 <particle> Noun2 – االردن تبع the-king belonging-to Jordan الملك– the-king that-for Jordan המלך של ירדן

Road Map

• Introduction

• Orthography

• Morphology

• Syntax

• Translation Divergences

• Conclusion

Translation Divergences

• Variations beyond syntax• How languages map semantics to syntax• As complex and diverse as any other language• Divergence Dimensions

– Categorial Variation (develop development)– Conflation (become frozen freeze)– Inflation (freeze become frozen)– Structural (enter the room enter into the room)– Head Swap (swim across cross swimming)– Thematic (John likes Mary Mary pleases John)

*عند كلب

יש

לכלב

كلب عند يat-me dog

have

I dog

I have a dog י כלבל ישthere for-me dog

אניانا

Translation Divergencesconflation

هنا تلسI-am-not here

be

I here

I am not here

not

ليس

نا ا هنا

Translation Divergencesconflation

*אנילאפה

אני פהלאI not here

*نا ا بردان

*קר ל

بردانانا I cold

be

I cold

I am cold קר ליcold for-me

אני

Translation Divergencesthematic

عثر

انا على

מצא

אני את

الرجل علىعثرت found-I upon the-man

find

I man

I found the man האישאתמצאתי found-I obj the-man

رجلאיש

Translation Divergencesstructural

عثر

انا على

الرجل علىعثرت found-I upon the-man

find

I man

I found the man الرجال لقيتfound-I the-man

رجل

لقى

انا رجال

Translation Divergences structural

swim

I quicklyacross

river

I swam across the river quickly

Translation Divergenceshead swap and categorial

اسرع

انا عبورسباحة

نهر

سباحة النهر عبور اسرعتI-sped crossing the-river swimming

swim

I quicklyacross

river

I swam across the river quickly

Translation Divergences head swap and categorial

חצה

אני אתב

נהר

ב

שחיה מהירות

חציתי את הנהר בשחיה במהירותI-crossed obj river in-swim speedily

Translation Divergences head swap and categorial

חצה

אני אתב

נהר

ב

שחיה מהירות

اسرع

انا عبورسباحة

نهر

swim

I quicklyacross

river

noun

prep

verb

noun

adverb

verb

nounverb

noun

Conclusion

• Many defining features of the Semitic family– Orthographic conventions, morphological derivation and

inflection, phrase structure, etc

• Many variations that create different kinds of ambiguities and problems– Phonology of orthography, Semantics of derivation and

inflection

• Do similarities extend beyond morphology and syntax?– Translation divergences within Semitic family– Ambiguity preservation between Semitic languages