Finite state analysis of prepositional phrases in Maltese

We address the general problem faced by designers of computational lexica: that of relating surface forms to underlying lexical forms through the vehicle of a precise linguistic description expressed in a suitable formalism. For such a description to be useful, it must be possible for the relation to be computable: given a surface element, we need to compute the corresponding lexical element or elements, and vice cersa. Below we concentrate upon the description of a minimal example: prepositional phrases, a reasonably well-defined and compact subset of Maltese surface phenomena that exemplifies many of the difficulties that are typical of Semitic languages.peer-reviewe

TTS pre-processing issues for mixed language support

The design of an open domain Text-to-Speech (TTS) system mandates a preprocessing module that is responsible for preparing the input text so that it can be handled in a standard fashion by other TTS components. There are several pre-processing issues that are common across input domains, such as number, date and acronym handling. Others may be specific to the type of input under examination. In designing a TTS system supporting Maltese for SMS messages in the local context, specific issues are also encountered. In terms of language issues, the practical use of Maltese is heavily characterised by code-switching into other languages, most commonly in English. While the resulting language may not be considered ‘Maltese’ in the strictest sense of the language definition, it creates a state of affairs that cannot simply be ignored by a general purpose system. In respect of the SMS domain, the use of various shorthand notation and lack of phrase structure is encountered. This paper describes these specific issues in further detail and discusses techniques with which they may be addressed.peer-reviewe

Monadic compositional parsing with context using Maltese as a case study

Combinator-based parsing using functional programming provides an elegant, and compositional approach to parser design and development. By its very nature, sensitivity to context usually fails to be properly addressed in these approaches. We identify two techniques to deal with context compositionally, particularly suited for natural language parsing. As case studies, we present parsers for Maltese definite nouns and conjugated verbs of the first form.peer-reviewe

Annotating textual and speech data in Maltese

The present document has been compiled in response to the call for contributions issued by the International Standards Organisation (ISO TC37/SC4 N047) towards the adoption of a morphosyntactic annotation framework. The document aims to contribute samples at the following levels, where the object language is Maltese: a. Tagging: Specifically, part of speech tagging. A tagset for Maltese is included in §3. In addition, a number of problems that arise in relation to the morphosyntactic annotation of Maltese textual documents are described and exemplified, as are current solutions where available, in §2. b. Annotation of transcribed speech. A small set of transcribed utterances are provided, on the basis of which some issues in their annotation are pointed out. Our aim in the compilation of this document has been primarily to draw attention to linguistic phenomena that should be accounted for in a broad-coverage annotation scheme which aims to include the greatest possible number of languages.peer-reviewe