The Development of a Theoretical Basis for Machine Aids for Translation from Hebrew to English

The subject matter of this dissertation encompasses two fields: linguistics and computer technology. The technical reader may be unimpressed by the elementary nature of some of the early discussions of computers. However, the early discussion purposely is kept on an elementary level for the benefit of those readers uninitiated in computer technology. Chapter One is an introduction which provides a brief historical background of machine translation, and an explanation of the advantages of computer aided research in linguistics, and other introductory remarks. Chapter Two describes the theory of translation employed in this work. In it a formalized notational system is defined and illustrated. This system of notation is used throughout the remaining chapters to write a grammar of Hebrew orthography and a grammar of Hebrew syntax. Chapter Three discusses preliminary concepts, defines terms and develops a formalized grammar of Modern Hebrew orthography that permits the construction and analysis of inflected Hebrew words, including compound words. The formalized notational system of the grammar is adaptable to computer programming that permits the development of algorithms for the automatic inflection and parsing of Hebrew words by means of electronic computers. Chapter Four develops a formalized grammar of Modern Hebrew syntax that permits the construction and analysis of sentences in Modern Hebrew. The formalized notational system of the grammar is adaptable to computer programming that permits the development of algorithms for the automatic construction and syntactic analysis of Hebrew sentences by means of electronic computers. It permits the construction of grammatical Hebrew sentences and prevents the construction of non-grammatical sentences. Except for the most basic details, semantic problems have not been treated. However, the grammar is capable of being expanded to include semantic descriptors and semantic rules. Provision is made for producing every possible construction in ambiguous cases. Appendix I contains the development of an algorithm for generating (inflecting) Hebrew words. It contains a computer program for the algorithm together with a test that demonstrates the adequacy and accuracy of the algorithm. Appendix II contains the development of an algorithm for analyzing (parsing) Hebrew words. It contains a computer program for the algorithm together with a test that demonstrates the adequacy and accuracy of the algorithm. Appendix III contains a description of a simplified context-sensitive complex-constituent phrase~structure grammar of Hebrew. This may prove helpful to the reader uninitiated in .the formal notation of computational linguistics.