Hybrid robust deep and shallow semantic processing for creativity support in document production

The research performed in the DeepThought project (http://www.project-deepthought.net) aims at demonstrating the potential of deep linguistic processing if added to existing shallow methods that ensure robustness. Classical information retrieval is extended by high precision concept indexing and relation detection. We use this approach to demonstrate the feasibility of three ambitious applications, one of which is a tool for creativity support in document production and collective brainstorming. This application is described in detail in this paper. Common to all three applications, and the basis for their development is a platform for integrated linguistic processing. This platform is based on a generic software architecture that combines multiple NLP components and on robust minimal recursive semantics (RMRS) as a uniform representation language

The strategic impact of META-NET on the regional, national and international level

This article provides an overview of the dissemination work carried out in META-NET from 2010 until early 2014; we describe its impact on the regional, national and international level, mainly with regard to politics and the situation of funding for LT topics. This paper documents the initiative’s work throughout Europe in order to boost progress and innovation in our field.Postprint (published version

MQM: Un marco para declarar y describir métricas de calidad de la traducción

En els últims anys l'avaluació de la qualitat de la traducció s'ha convertit en un tema rellevant i a la vegada que, de vegades, polèmic. La perspectiva de la indústria sobre la qualitat està altament fragmentada, en part perquè diferents tipus de projectes de traducció requereixen mètodes molt diferents d'avaluació. A més, els mètodes d'avaluació de la qualitat de les traduccions humanes i de les traduccions elaborades amb traducció automàtica (TA) són d'índole diferent. La manca de claredat provoca incertesa sobre si una traducció compleix amb les necessitats del seu promotor o l'usuari final, i deixa als proveïdors amb dubtes sobre el que els clients volen i necessiten. Com a resposta a aquest fet, el projecte QTLaunchPad, finançat per la Unió Europea, ha desenvolupat el marc denominat Multidimensional Quality Metrics (MQM), un sistema obert i ampliable per declarar i descriure les mètriques sobre qualitat en traducció utilitzant un vocabulari compartit de "classes de problemes”.In recent years translation quality evaluation has emerged as a major, and at times contentious, topic. Despite a focus on systematizing the evaluation of translation quality, the industry landscape is still highly fragmented, in part because different kinds of translation projects require very different evaluations of quality. In addition, human and machine translation (MT) quality evaluation methods have been fundamentally different in kind, preventing comparison of MT with human translation. The lack of clarity has contributed to an environment in which requesters of translation often cannot be certain whether or not a translation meets their needs or the needs of end users and where providers are unclear about what requesters need and want. In response the EU-funded QTLaunchPad project has developer the Multidimensional Quality Metrics (MQM) framework, an open an extensible system for declaring and describing translation quality metrics using a shared vocabulary of “issue types”.En los últimos años la evaluación de la calidad de la traducción se ha convertido en un tema relevante a la par que, en ocasiones, polémico. La perspectiva de la industria sobre la calidad está altamente fragmentada, en parte porque diferentes tipos de proyectos de traducción requieren métodos muy diferentes de evaluación. Además, los métodos de evaluación de la calidad de las traducciones humanas y de las traducciones elaboradas con traducción automática (TA) son de índole diferente. La falta de claridad provoca incerteza sobre si una traducción cumple con las necesidades de su promotor o su usuario final, y deja a los proveedores  con dudas sobre lo que los clientes quieren y necesitan. Como respuesta a este hecho, el proyecto QTLaunchPad, financiado por la Unión Europea, ha desarrollado el marco denominado Multidimensional Quality Metrics (MQM), un sistema abierto y ampliable para declarar y describir las métricas sobre calidad en traducción utilizando un vocabulario compartido de “clases de problemas”

Linguistic evaluation of German-English Machine Translation using a Test Suite

We present the results of the application of a grammatical test suite for German$\rightarrow$English MT on the systems submitted at WMT19, with a detailed analysis for 107 phenomena organized in 14 categories. The systems still translate wrong one out of four test items in average. Low performance is indicated for idioms, modals, pseudo-clefts, multi-word expressions and verb valency. When compared to last year, there has been a improvement of function words, non-verbal agreement and punctuation. More detailed conclusions about particular systems and phenomena are also presented

An integrated architecture for shallow and deep processing

We present an architecture for the integration of shallow and deep NLP components which is aimed at flexible combination of different language technologies for a range of practical current and future applications. In particular, we describe the integration of a high-level HPSG parsing system with different high-performance shallow components, ranging from named entity recognition to chunk parsing and shallow clause recognition. The NLP components enrich a representation of natural language text with layers of new XML meta-information using a single shared data structure, called the text chart. We describe details of the integration methods, and show how information extraction and language checking applications for realworld German text benefit from a deep grammatical analysis

COSMA - multi-participant NL interaction for appointment scheduling

We discuss the use of NL systems in the domain of appointment scheduling. Appointment scheduling is a problem faced daily by many people and organizations, and typically solved using communication in natural language. In general, cooperative interaction between several participants is required whose calendar data are distributed rather than centralized. In this distributed multi-agent environment, the use of NL systems makes it possible for machines and humans to cooperate in solving scheduling problems. We describe the COSMA (Cooperative Schedule Managament Agent) system, a secretarial assistant for appointment scheduling. A central part of COSMA is the reusable NL core system DISCO, which serves, in this application, as an NL interface between an appointment planning system and the human user. COSMA is fully implemented in Common Lisp and runs on Unix Workstations. Our experience with COSMA shows that it is a plausible and useful application for NL systems. However, the appointment planner was not designed for NL communication and thus makes strong assumptions about sequencing of domain actions and about the error-freeness of the communication. We suggest that further improvements of the overall COSMA functionality, especially with regard to flexibility and robustness, be based on a modified architecture