Thesis (MSc)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Machine translation, especially machine translation for sign languages, remains an active research
area. Sign language machine translation presents unique challenges to the whole machine translation
process. In this thesis a prototype machine translation system is presented. This system is
designed to translate English text into a gloss based representation of South African Sign Language
(SASL).
In order to perform the machine translation, a transfer based approach was taken. English
text is parsed into an intermediate representation. Translation rules are then applied to this
intermediate representation to transform it into an equivalent intermediate representation for the
SASL glosses. For both these intermediate representations, a tree adjoining grammar (TAG)
formalism is used. As part of the prototype machine translation system, a TAG parser was
implemented.
The translation rules used by the system were derived from a SASL phrase book. This phrase
book was also used to create a small gloss based SASL TAG grammar. Lastly, some additional
tools, for the editing of TAG trees, were also added to the prototype system. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Masjienvertaling, veral masjienvertaling vir gebaretale, bly ’n aktiewe navorsingsgebied. Masjienvertaling
vir gebaretale bied unieke uitdagings tot die hele masjienvertalingproses. In hierdie tesis
bied ons ’n prototipe masjienvertalingstelsel aan. Hierdie stelsel is ontwerp om Engelse teks te
vertaal na ’n glos gebaseerde voorstelling van Suid-Afrikaanse Gebaretaal (SAG).
Ons vertalingstelsel maak gebruik van ’n oorplasingsbenadering tot masjienvertaling. Engelse
teks word ontleed na ’n intermediˆere vorm. Vertalingre¨els word toegepas op hierdie intermediˆere
vorm om dit te transformeer na ’n ekwivalente intermediˆere vorm vir die SAG glosse. Vir beide
hierdie intermediˆere vorms word boomkoppelingsgrammatikas (BKGs) gebruik. As deel van die
prototipe masjienvertalingstelsel, is ’n BKG sintaksontleder ge¨ımplementeer.
Die vertalingre¨els wat gebruik word deur die stelsel, is afgelei vanaf ’n SAG fraseboek. Hierdie
fraseboek was ook gebruik om ’n klein BKG vir SAG glosse te ontwikkel. Laastens was addisionele
nutsfasiliteite, vir die redigering van BKG bome, ontwikkel.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/19892 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Welgemoed, Johan |
| Contributors | Van Zijl, L., Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Science. Dept. of Mathematical Sciences. Institute for Applied Computer Science. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | v, 80 leaves : ill. |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
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