Computerization of African languages-French dictionaries

This paper relates work done during the DiLAF project. It consists in converting 5 bilingual African language-French dictionaries originally in Word format into XML following the LMF model. The languages processed are Bambara, Hausa, Kanuri, Tamajaq and Songhai-zarma, still considered as under-resourced languages concerning Natural Language Processing tools. Once converted, the dictionaries are available online on the Jibiki platform for lookup and modification. The DiLAF project is first presented. A description of each dictionary follows. Then, the conversion methodology from .doc format to XML files is presented. A specific point on the usage of Unicode follows. Then, each step of the conversion into XML and LMF is detailed. The last part presents the Jibiki lexical resources management platform used for the project.Comment: 8 page

Computerization of African languages-French dictionaries

8 pagesInternational audienceThis paper relates work done during the DiLAF project. It consists in converting 5 bilingual African language-French dictionaries originally in Word format into XML following the LMF model. The languages processed are Bambara, Hausa, Kanuri, Tamajaq and Songhai-zarma, still considered as under-resourced languages concerning Natural Language Processing tools. Once converted, the dictionaries are available online on the Jibiki platform for lookup and modification. The DiLAF project is first presented. A description of each dictionary follows. Then, the conversion methodology from .doc format to XML files is presented. A specific point on the usage of Unicode follows. Then, each step of the conversion into XML and LMF is detailed. The last part presents the Jibiki lexical resources management platform used for the project

Yesterday’s Words

Interne en externe geschiedenis van het Nederlands en zijn dialecte

The Hausa Lexicographic Tradition

Hausa, a major language of West Africa, is one of the most widely studied languages of Sub-Saharan Africa. It has a rich lexicographic tradition dating back some two centuries. Since the first major vocabulary published in 1843 up to the present time, almost 60 lexicographic works - dictionaries, vocabularies, glossaries - have been published, in a range of metalanguages, from English to Hausa itself. This article traces the historical development of the major studies according to their type and function as general reference works, specialized works, pedagogical works, and terminological works. For each work, there is a general discussion of its size, accuracy of the phonological, lexical, and grammatical information, and the adequacy of its definitions and illustrative material. A complete list of the lexicographic works is included

English Index

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MotàMot project: conversion of a French-Khmer published dictionary for building a multilingual lexical system

8 pagesInternational audienceEconomic issues related to the information processing techniques are very important. The development of such technologies is a major asset for developing countries like Cambodia and Laos, and emerging ones like Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand. The MotAMot project aims to computerize an under-resourced language: Khmer, spoken mainly in Cambodia. The main goal of the project is the development of a multilingual lexical system targeted for Khmer. The macrostructure is a pivot one with each word sense of each language linked to a pivot axi. The microstructure comes from a simplification of the explanatory and combinatory dictionary. The lexical system has been initialized with data coming mainly from the conversion of the French-Khmer bilingual dictionary of Denis Richer from Word to XML format. The French part was completed with pronunciation and parts-of-speech coming from the FeM French-english-Malay dictionary. The Khmer headwords noted in IPA in the Richer dictionary were converted to Khmer writing with OpenFST, a finite state transducer tool. The resulting resource is available online for lookup, editing, download and remote programming via a REST API on a Jibiki platform

Lexicography in west Africa: preparing a bilingual Kisi-English dictionary

This paper presents some of the issues involved in preparing a bilingual dictionary for Kisi, an underdocumented language spoken in West Africa. Because the language possesses little in the way of literacy materials, fundamental issues as to orthography, word division, etc., had to be considered. In addition, no grammar of the language (or its closest congeners) was available and thus basic grammatical analysis had to be performed simultaneously. I briefly consider some of these problems, discussing the use of the lexical data base programs known as LEXWARE. I then focus on the specific problems raised by the expressive word class known to Africanists as ideophones. The conclusion, in the form of advice to future lexicographers of such languages, is that before undertaking such an endeavour, one must seriously assess its feasibility.Keywords: atlantic languages, bilingual dictionary, computer software, expressive language, ideophones, kisi, language variation, lexicography, phonology, pragmatics, semantic

The Mass Media and the Problem of Understanding Legal Language Use: A Call for the Adoption of Plain Legal Language in Nigeria

The study of legal language use (LLU), especially in its historic perspectives and lexical methods, has become one of the most fundamentally popular and basically attractive areas of research that is generating a lot of special interest and drawing much greater attention to authors and readers alike in recent times. Apart from having its own lexicon, legal language preserves legal terminologies even though some are archaic or old fashioned in some ways as to command respect, perhaps, for its own peculiar tradition and prestige. This paper identifies the so-called legalese language as one of the greatest problems which media practitioners have to contend with. The paper is of the opinion that concerted efforts must be made to simplify or modernize the language of the Law, in order to avert the on-going confusion and misunderstanding associated with legal language use. The paper, therefore, advocates for the adoption of plain legal language use in Nigeria

Apps-based Machine Translation on Smart Media Devices - A Review

Machine Translation Systems are part of Natural Language Processing (NLP) that makes communication possible among people using their own native language through computer and smart media devices. This paper describes recent progress in language dictionaries and machine translation commonly used for communications and social interaction among people or Internet users worldwide who speak different languages. Problems of accuracy and quality related to computer translation systems encountered in web & Apps-based translation are described and discussed. Possible programming solutions to the problems are also put forward to create software tools that are able to analyze and synthesize language intelligently based on semantic representation of sentences and phrases. Challenges and problems on Apps-based machine translation on smart devices towards AI, NLP, smart learning and understanding still remain until now, and need to be addressed and solved through collaboration between computational linguists and computer scientists