Translation-driven mapping of semantic fields of inceptiveness

Transcriptie

1 Translation-driven mapping of semantic fields of inceptiveness Using bidirectional parallel corpus data for measuring and visualizing distances between lexemes in the semantic field of inceptiveness Lore Vandevoorde, Gert De Sutter & Koen Plevoets

2 Research goal To operationalize and to measure semantic differences in translated vs non-translated language Does the semasiological structure of polysemous and near-synonymous lexemes in translated Belgian Dutch differ from their structure in original Belgian Dutch? What is the role of source language and register? pag. 2

3 Today s research question Can we find a technique that enables us to retrieve and visualize semantic fields AND in addition allows for: register-sensitive comparison; cross-linguistic comparison; intra-linguistic comparison (translated vs. original language)? pag. 3

4 CORPUS: Dutch Parallel Corpus - Ten-million-word - Sentence aligned - Parallel and comparable - Balanced for 5 text types (= registers / genres) - External communication, journalistic texts, instructive texts, administrative texts, literature - Balanced for 4 translation directions - Dutch -> French, French -> Dutch - Dutch -> English, English -> Dutch pag. 4

5 TECHNIQUE: Semantic Mirroring Semantic Mirroring A technique for meaning differentiation that uses translational data from parallel corpora. Dyvik, H. (1998). A translational basis for semantics. In S. Johansson & S. Oksefjell (Eds.), Corpora and cross-linguistic research: theory, method, and case studies (pp ). Amsterdam: Rodopi. Dyvik, H. (2004). Translations as semantic mirrors from parallel corpus to Wordnet. In K. Aijmer & B. Altenberg (Eds.), Advances in Corpus Linguistics (pp ). Amsterdam & New York: Rodopi. pag. 5

6 Semantic Mirroring Advantages Dyvik (2004) Not predetermined selection of lexical items Expansive: create semantic field semantically closely related words ought to have strongly overlapping sets of translations Overlapping sets of translations should reveal semantic relations pag. 6

7 Semantic Mirroring pag. 7

8 Semantic Mirroring: example Initial lexeme: bank First T-image: English translations for bank bench, bank, desk pag. 8

9 Semantic Mirroring: example Inverse T-image Dutch translations for bench zitbank, bank Dutch translations for bank oever, geldbedrijf, bank Dutch translations for desk werktafel, schoolbank pag. 9

10 Case study semantic field of inceptiveness in Dutch (BEGINNEN) and French (COMMENCER) pag. 10

11 Initial lexeme Select a concise set of nearsynonyms using lexicographic data and substitution testing pag. 11

12 Initial lexeme Look up synonyms of beginnen in 8 dictionaries (no meta-information) 19 / 104 synonyms in at least 3 dictionaries Substitution testing for 19 synonyms Set of 5 synonyms pag. 12

13 Initial lexeme Beginnen Aanvangen Starten Een aanvang nemen Van start gaan Aanvatten pag. 13

14 Apply semantic mirroring pag. 14

15 Create First T-image Check all French translations of the SET of variants of BEGINNEN 74 different translations Minimal overlap criterion + frequency threshold 5 T-image of 12 French lexemes pag. 15

16 Apply semantic mirroring Query T-image lexemes from the corpus Check translations back into Dutch Apply minimal overlap criterion + frequency threshold 5 Inverse T-image of 22 Dutch lexemes pag. 16

17 SELECTION 22 Dutch lexemes of inceptiveness aanvangaanvangen aanvankelijk aanvatten begin beginbeginnen eerst (adj) gaan ingaan instellen invoeren lanceren openen oprichten opstarten start startstarten van start gaan vanaf vertrekken pag. 17

18 Insert frequencies VISUALIZATION BUT Inverse T-image = TL frequencies Additional step pag. 18

19 Visualize Data are summarized in frequency tables commencer début débuter démarrer départ entamer instaurer lancer lancer, se ouvrir partir prendre cours aanvang aanvangen aanvankelijk aanvatten begin Correspondence Analysis a statistical technique designed for the visualization of frequency tables (Greenacre, 2007) pag. 19

20 openen start- eerst (adj) aanvang- begin begin- aanvankelijk aanvangen beginnen vertrekken ingaan starten vanaf gaan van aanvatten start gaan opstarten lanceren oprichten invoeren instellen n = pag. 20

21 First-order Correspondence Analysis Same word class lexemes seem to cluster together This would imply that: - aanvankelijk [firstly] and begin [beginning] are semantically closer to each other than begin [beginning] to beginnen [to begin] pag. 21

22 Solution? Insert earlier stages of the Semantic Mirroring into the analysis Exclude possible interaction with other semantic fields Base the semantic space on the six lexemes and their first-order translations pag. 22

23 Second-order Correspondence Analysis Anchor 12 points (French lexemes) with respect to the 6 Dutch lexemes (Initial lexeme) pag. 23

24 lancer, se commencer beginnen départ début ouvrir starten partir lancer entamer démarrer débuter van start gaan aanvatten instaurer aanvangen prendre cours een aanvang nemen pag. 24

25 Second-order Correspondence Analysis Visualize the 22 Dutch lexemes based on the 12 anchored points ( supplementary points) pag. 25

26 prendre cours eerst (adj) beginnen lancer, se aanvankelijk commencer startstarten départ aanvang- début begin start openen begin- ouvrir gaan vertrekken partir lancer entamer débuter démarrer lanceren van start gaan opstarten instaurer oprichten aanvatten invoeren instellen aanvangen vanaf ingaan pag. 26

27 lanceren van start gaan opstarten oprichten aanvatten invoeren instellen eerst (adj) beginnen aanvankelijk startstarten aanvang- begin start openen begin- gaan vertrekken aanvangen vanaf ingaan n = pag. 27

28 - Separate clusters are now meaningbased and formed independently of the word class of each lexeme - Lexemes follow a descending line towards more outlying, more formal lexemes pag. 28

29 Semantic field of BEGINNEN: journalistic texts pag. 29

30 Journalistic texts eerst (adj) start aanvankelijk begin- startstarten openen vertrekken gaan oprichten lanceren invoeren beginnen van start gaan opstarten ingaan n = pag. 30

31 Semantic field of BEGINNEN: external communication pag. 31

32 External communication beginnen eerst begin- (adj) start startstarten openen vertrekken aanvangen gaan lanceren van start gaan aanvatten invoeren opstarten n = pag. 32

33 Register-specific plots provide us with interesting insights into the influence of register on the structure of semantic fields pag. 33

34 Cross-lingual comparison BEGINNEN and COMMENCER pag. 34

35 partir débuter entreprendre lancer démarrer mettre sur pied lancement entamer créer départ lancer, se commencer début ouvrir pag. 35

36 Intra-lingual comparison translated and original BEGINNEN pag. 36

37 original translated lanceren van start gaan opstarten oprichten aanvatten invoeren instellen beginnen aanvang- aanvankelijk start- begin eerst start gaan (adj) openen begin- aanvangen invoeren instellen vanaf vertrekkenoprichten lanceren starten opstarten van start gaan aanvatten eerst (adj) beginnen aanvankelijk startstarten aanvang- begin start openen begin- gaan vertrekken aanvangen ingaan vanaf ingaan pag. 37

38 - Many similarities between the translated and original semantic field - Noteworthy differences: To what extent can translated language represent original language? pag. 38

39 Conclusion The developed translational method is bottom-up, quantitative, corpus based and enables us to measure and visualize translated and original semantic fields, even register-specifically, which was our main methodological concern. BUT: - Extra testing with a different pivot language - Carry out a Semantic Mirroring with a single lexeme pag. 39

40 Questions for the future If we are able to visualize semantic structures (including register-specific ones) in translated and non-translated texts, then we can aim at providing evidence for the Gravitational Pull Hypothesis (Halverson 2003, 2007). Apply semantic mirroring to a field with more salient semantic differences pag. 40

41 Possibilities for the future - Automatization of the retrieval process (using word-aligned corpora) - Add morpho-syntactic ID-tags to the translation annotated sentences pag. 41

42 Thank you! pag. 42