Language/OS - Multiplatform Resource Library/LANGUAGE OS.iso/icon/contrib/pcw.lha/chap0.let

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         MACHINE TRANSLATION OF A BIBLICAL PASSAGE










The members of the Committee approve the masters
thesis of Douglas Paul Witmer



Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.        ______________________________
Supervising Professor


Jerold A. Edmondson          ______________________________


Charles C. Chiasson          ______________________________































         Public Domain by Douglas Paul Witmer 1992

                     No Rights Reserved




























                         To my dad,

                       C. Paul Witmer

                 whose example has been an

           inspiration to me throughout my life.











         MACHINE TRANSLATION OF A BIBLICAL PASSAGE




                             by

                    DOUGLAS PAUL WITMER







     Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of

The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment

                    of the requirements

                     for the Degree of



               MASTER OF ARTS IN LINGUISTICS









              UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON

                          May 1992


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                      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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       I would like to thank a number of people whose
inspiration, guidance, and assistance helped make this
thesis possible.  My supervising professor, Dr. Ellis W.
Deibler, Jr., was extremely generous in giving his time to
review the manuscript, and gave much valuable guidance and
direction in the revision of the thesis especially in the
area of semantic structure analysis.  I only hope that my
own efforts at giving the flavor of a semantic structure
analysis in Chapter Three do not in any way discredit Dr.
Deibler's brilliance in this field of endeavor.

       Dr. Jerold A. Edmondson gave generously of his time
in reviewing the manuscript, and I am indebted to him for
many valuable comments and insights pertaining to the
evolution of the grammatical material presented in Chapter
Two.  I am also grateful to Dr. Charles C. Chiasson who
gave immeasurable assistance in the development of the
morphological analysis of the Greek text found in this
same chapter.



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       I would also like to extend my thanks to Dr. Ralph
E. Griswold and his associates at the University of Arizona
who developed the Icon programming language, and placed it
in the public domain.  Without the availability of this
language my efforts at developing a machine translation
program would have been much more difficult.  It is largely
due to the example of Dr. Griswold and his associates that
I have placed this thesis and the contents of its accompa
nying program diskette in the public domain.

       I must also extend deep appreciation to my wife and
family whose continuous support and encouragement contrib
uted greatly to the outcome of this work.

       Finally, I give all the glory to my Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ who plucked me out of the world, and made
something meaningful of my life.

                                           November 4, 1991







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                          ABSTRACT

         MACHINE TRANSLATION OF A BIBLICAL PASSAGE


                  Publication No. _______


                 Douglas Paul Witmer, M.A.
         The University of Texas at Arlington, 1991

Supervising Professor: Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.

       The history of machine translation is explored be
ginning with the era prior to World War II and continuing
to the present.  Some selected Greek data is analyzed using
five different linguistic theories.  Each of these theories
is evaluated with regard to machine translation.

       A technique for producing machine translations of a
fixed text into multiple languages is proposed.  It is
argued that much of the work of translation can be carried


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out by persons who may be fluent in only one language.
Furthermore, when a text is being translated into multiple
languages, the analysis of the source text need be per
formed only once.  Using this technique, the role of the
bi-lingual translator shifts to that of a consultant and
translation checker.

       The feasibility of this technique is demonstrated by
applying a newly developed machine translation program to a
Biblical passage, and the results of this translation
effort are evaluated.















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                     TABLE OF CONTENTS


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .....................................    v

ABSTRACT .............................................  vii

1.  INTRODUCTION .....................................    1

       A Brief History Of Machine Translation ........    2

2.  CLAUSE LEVEL ANALYSES ............................   14

       Generative Transformational Grammar ...........   16

             Greek Data With Analysis ................   17
             Summary Of Grammatical Tags .............   19
             Phrase Structure Rules ..................   19
             Sample Phrase Markers ...................   20
             Critique ................................   21

       Government And Binding ........................   24

             Greek Data With Analysis ................   25
             Summary Of Grammatical Tags .............   27
             Phrase Structure Rules ..................   27
             Sample Phrase Markers ...................   28
             Critique ................................   29

       Montague Grammar ..............................   35

             Greek Data With Analysis ................   36
             Summary Of Grammatical Tags .............   38
             Sample Phrase Markers ...................   38
             Critique ................................   39

       Relational Grammar ............................   45

             Greek Data With Analysis ................   46
             Summary Of Grammatical Tags .............   47
             Sample Stratal Diagrams .................   47
             Critique ................................   48

       Role And Reference Grammar ....................   54

             Greek Data With Analysis ................   54


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             Summary Of Grammatical Tags .............   56
             Sample Clause Mapping ...................   56
             Distinctives Of Role And Reference
                Grammar ..............................   57
             Description Of Role And Reference Grammar   60
             Discussion Of The Analysis ..............   62
             Relevance To Machine Translation ........   64

       Conclusion ....................................   66

3.  SEMANTIC STRUCTURE ANALYSIS                          67

       Conventions Used In The Displays                  72
       Identification Of The Participants And Other
          Referents ..................................   73
       Occasion And Purpose Of The Passage ...........   74
       Overview Of The Passage .......................   75
       Thematic Outline Of The Text ..................   77
       The Semantic Units Of The Passage .............   78

             Verses 1 And 2 ..........................   78
             Verses 3 Through 5 ......................   79
             Verses 6 Through 13 .....................   80
             Verses 14 Through 16 ....................   81
             Verses 17 Through 19 ....................   81
             Verses 20 Through 25 ....................   82
             Verses 26 Through 29 ....................   83
             Verses 30 Through 35 ....................   84

       Notes On The Propositionalization .............   85

             Verse 1 .................................   86
             Verse 2 .................................   86
             Verse 3 .................................   87
             Verse 4 .................................   88

       Critique ......................................   88

       Applicability Of An SSA To Machine Translation    90

4.  MACHINE TRANSLATION OF MATTHEW 26:1-35 ...........   93

       Theoretical Basis Of The Implementation .......   94
       Implementation Details ........................   98
       Program Operation .............................  102
       Critique ......................................  103
       Implementing A New Target Language ............  105
       Conclusion ....................................  107





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APPENDICES

A.  ABBREVIATIONS ....................................  109

B.  SEMANTIC STRUCTURE ANALYSIS DISPLAYS .............  112

C.  UNTRANSLATED INPUT TEXT SAMPLE ...................  126

D.  SEMANTICON SAMPLE ................................  128

E.  TRANSLATED OUTPUT ................................  132

F.  DISKETTE CONTENTS ................................  139

G.  PROGRAM LISTING ..................................  141

REFERENCES ...........................................  167




































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