The Arabic language has not been widely studied in computational terms. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to provide an understanding of morphology and forms of Arabic and English verbs in their syntactic context, in order to reveal details that can be used in current machine processing systems

Alasmari, J

Atwell, ES

Watson, J

White Rose Research Online

This is a repository copy of A comparative analysis between Arabic and English of the verbal system using google translate.White Rose Research Online URL for this paper:http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/112953/Version: Accepted VersionProceedings Paper:Alasmari, J, Watson, J and Atwell, ES orcid.org/0000-0001-9395-3764 (2016) A comparative analysis between Arabic and English of the verbal system using google translate. In: Proceedings of IMAN'2016 4th International Conference on Islamic Applications in Computer Science and Technologies. IMAN'2016 4th International Conference on Islamic Applications in Computer Science and Technologies, 20-22 Dec 2016, Khartoum, Sudan. . eprints@whiterose.ac.ukhttps://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/Reuse Unless indicated otherwise, fulltext items are protected by copyright with all rights reserved. The copyright exception in section 29 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 allows the making of a single copy solely for the purpose of non-commercial research or private study within the limits of fair dealing. The publisher or other rights-holder may allow further reproduction and re-use of this version - refer to the White Rose Research Online record for this item. Where records identify the publisher as the copyright holder, users can verify any specific terms of use on the publisher’s website. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing eprints@whiterose.ac.uk including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. A comparative analysis between Arabic and English of theverbal system using google translateJawharah Alasmari1, a, Janet C.E. Watson 2, b, Eric Atwell3, c1, 2School of language, Culture and Societies, University of Leeds, The United Kingdom3School of computing, University of Leeds, The United Kingdom1ml14jsna@leeds.ac.uk,2 j.c.e.watson@leeds.ac.uk 3E.S.Atwell@leeds.ac.ukABSTRACTThe Arabic language has not been widely studied in computational terms. Therefore, the main purpose ofthis study is to provide an understanding of morphology and forms of Arabic and English verbs in theirsyntactic context, in order to reveal details that can be used in current machine processing systems.Keywords: Google translate, Arabic & English verbs, morphology, Tense1. IntroductionThe Arabic language has a verb system that differs from that of English. Various studies havebeen undertaken over the space of a thousand years to examine the differences between the verbsystems used in Arabic and those used in other languages (Eisele, 1990; Zollmann et al., 2006).Arabic is surrounded by myths. It is classed as an inflectional, derivational and templaticlanguage. On the basis of syntax, Arabic can be categorised as a theme pro-drop language thatexpresses person, number, and/or gender agreement, as well as tense, aspect, and modalitymarkers with the referent on the verb. Every particular inflection of the verb is quantifiedexclusively. The main purpose of this research is to provide an understanding of the morphemiccomposition and forms of Arabic and English verbs, as well as examining discharges andconjugates in their syntactic context in order to reveal details that can be used to build a corpus.In order to examine the morphology that is encapsulated in the inflection of tenses, aspect, and inthe modality markers of verb systems so that Arabic can be translated into English usingmachine translation (MT), steps must be taken to deal with the order of words and theiragreement. Agreement rules are vital for a comparison of various sentences with the targetlanguage. The rules must be proficient enough to deal with this challenge, and these rules mustact as guidelines for the organisation of sentence elements (Gadalla & Abdel-Hamid, 2000).In Arabic, a verb is formed by the insertion of three  ∠モ ∠バ∠プ (fa雇ala) to four モヤバプ  (fa雇lala) consonant roots into one of numerous verb patterns. The verb suffixes and prefixes are then affixed in thesetemplates to locate positioning in the linear structure in relation to number, person and gender.The active/passive voice and perfective tense/aspect are used for the dummy root (Truck, 2010).Abdul-Halim et al. (2015, p. 139) define inflection as follows: Inflectional affixes are thosewhich are affixed to words to indicate grammatical function. They also note that the Arabiclanguage is one of the inflectional languages, whereas English shows only a few features of theselanguages.One of the greatest challenges faced when designing a machine translation system that willtranslate between Arabic to English is that the Arabic language does not use a specified formulato construct the aspect of the verb in the same way English does. Reishaan and Jafar (2008)explain that in the case of an absence of certain formal markers for the progressive and perfectaspects of the Arabic verb, Arab scholars denote them by using certain auxiliaries before the verbform, such as   "サ’"∩ギホ  ”, and “フヲシ, in terms of tense.Arabic has only two tense forms, while the English language has sixteen tense forms (Gadalla,2006). In Arabic verbs, the derivational and inflectional morphology categories play an equalmain role in the verb system. Tense and aspect in Arabic verbs are formed by using the rules ofinflectional morphology (Al-Saleemi, 1987).The proposed study will explore the verb systems of both the English and Arabic languages,paying attention to the similarities and differences between them. In order to do this, it isnecessary to explain the morphemic composition of verb forms as they appear in modernutilization.Question research:- How are the different verb forms that express tenses used in the Arabic and English languages?- Does the Arabic language have a perfect tense in the same way that English does?- Do both languages express the form morphologically through definite forms, then assert ormodify it contextually?- What are the most common challenges facing translators when translating the verb tense fromArabic into English?- Does morphological and syntax analysis of the whole context can help to improve thetranslation of google?2. MethodologyThe aim of this research is find the best method for analysing the two languages to deal with thetranslation of sentences. A list of sentences was created to begin the process of a contrastiveanalysis of the languages. Some of these sentences were suggested by Professor Janet in oursecond meeting, and some were chosen from short stories previously read by myself. No specificformula was used to select the sentences because one of the aims of this research is to compareArabic sentences to their equivalents in the English language. After an analysis of thesesentences was completed, an access program was used to sort all seventeen examples to clarifythe analysis. The examples recognised three fields: two fields for sentences in English and theirtranslation into Arabic, and one other field for Arabic/English transliteration. The Arabic verbswere recognised as follows: verb form, derivation, meaning, inflection (prefixes, affixes), stem,root, person, number, gender, tense, verb mood, syntax, and morphology. Google translate wasused as an example of an existing machine translation system to show how words are employedin the sentences.3. Analysis of the ResultsThe past simple verb (regular) in Arabic was recognised in English as follows:Sentence:A. 脅ahab-a   al-walad-u  ilダ  al-madrasat-i B. The boy PERF.3SM-went-ACC to the school-NEGThe boy went to the school.Google translate used the past simple to express past actions.In English, to form the singular imperfect verb form (present simple tense), the suffix s isadded to the base form of the verb. In the following example, the tense of the verb yiqra顕u ぺゲボΑ isemployed in Arabic using a free order verb-subject-object (VSO) structuring. In Arabic,differences in meaning between a verb and noun in a sentence are related to context.Sentence:A. ya-qra-u   al-啓ダalib-u   al-dars-a B. DEF- student-MON IMPRF.3SM.read-IND DEF- book-ACCThe boy reads the lesson.Google is not able to translate verbs by recognising the prefixes and affixes that are added to theverb forms in terms of number (dual), and, as Tucker (2010) notes, English tenses do not followthe same patterns as Arabic tenses. In Arabic, a derivative of a root may comprise suffixes andprefixes (Badawi et al., 2013). Therefore, manual correction was needed to add dual markers tothe verb 験ara商-a. In the following example, the long vowel iatna`ni relating to the subject alfa3l is not recognised in English.Sentence:A. ia触na`ni   mina    al-tulab-啓    "杏ara脅-a     杏ar脅a-humダ         fi   halaqaat-i   al-yawmi" B. Two of the students PERF.3SM-present-PORN.DUM their work-PRON.DU at theseminar todayTwo of the students presented their work at the seminar today.In the following example, the present progressive tense in Arabic (future simple constructer) isformed using sa ⇒シ, sawafa  フヲシ∩ whereas in English the present progressive tense is formedusing `will or `shall`. As Gadalla (2006) notes, This occurs when that construction refers tofuture arrangements or planned events.Sentence:A. sawfa    ua-sダfir-u      ilダ      s┣r┆ya  al-鞍usb┣杏-a    al-qダdim-i B. Sawfa-IPERF.1SM-travel-IND to Syria DEF-next DEF-weekI will travel to Syria next week.One of the challenges posed by machine translation when translating between Arabic andEnglish is that, in English, gender distinctions are not made using verbs, they are made usingpronouns (Gadalla and Abdel-Hamid, 2000). Google Translate cannot recognise the gender of anArabic verb. The masculine is derived through the verb using the prefix ya (yaktubu- ⊥ょわムΑ),whereas the feminine is derived by using the prefix ta (taktubu  ⊥ょわムゎ). In the following example,a manual correction was required to alter the gender of the verb ta-昭ml u. One lesson to be learned from this is that machine translation must be able to understand and distinguish theelements of a verb (Gadalla, 2006). In the following example, the present simple is used todenote the habitual verb action (ta-昭mil-u - ⊥モヨエゎ) as part of a metaphorical description.Sentence:A. Wa -bqダyダ     naf巾ダti   al-ba謹awr-i -  allatay      ta-巾mil-u    ray稲i巾atann   min 茨abaqi al-ta-taダray謹-i, B. And the remnants of hints that IPERF-3SFcarry-INDI incense smell fragrantDEF-history-NEGAnd the remnants of hints that carry incense smell fragrant history.Google translate is not be able to recognise affixes that are added to the verb form to indicate theactive voice/first singular person, and, therefore, an analysis of the whole context of the sentencewas required to recognise the number of subjects and the tense of the verb (atasalluqu/ペヤジゎぺ).In Arabic, the present tense is indicated using the prefixes ya, ta, na, and a`. Examples of thisrule are: yaktubu ⊥ょわムΑ, taktubu  ⊥ょわムゎ, aktubu  ⊥ょわミぺ. The dual/Pl yakutba ゅらわムΑ and naktubu  ⊥ょわムル areused to express present tense verbs and numbers with the same consonantal root to conveyrelated meaning (Truck, 2010). In the following example, it is important to understand the wholemeaning in context in order to recognise the aspect of the verb (imperfect verb progressive).Gadalla (2006) explains that, the corpus shows that this translation is employed when theimperfect form denotes an activity that is occurring at or around the moment of speaking.SentenceA. A-tasallaq-u al-ssalダlim-a al-hajaray-iB. PERF.1SM Climb-INDI DEF-stairs-ACC of DEF-stoneI am climbing the stairs of stone.In the following example, Google translate provides an inaccurate translation of the verb ∠ラヲ⊥ャヲ⊥ボΑ/yaq┣l┣na. The sentence uses present form to indicate present continuous tense of the verb  ∠ラヲ⊥ャヲ⊥ボΑ/ yaq┣l┣na, and a pronoun (┣, るハゅヨイャや ヱやヱ) is added to the verb to indicate plural/ number.Thus, in the following example, the Arabic verb yaq┣l┣na, is used to describe continuous present actions that can only be recognised by reading the whole sentence. Therefore, machinetranslation must be able to recognise the present tense and present progressive.SentenceA. In lam yatawaqaf-u al-ssuby-an 茨ammダ yaq┣l-┣na   sa-yanダlahum   ɲ iqダb.  B. In lam IMPERF-yatawaqaf-3PM.PRON DEF-ssuby-an 茨ammダ IMPERF-yaq┣l-3PM.PRON. sa- IMPERF-ynalahum-3SM.PRON eiqabIf the boys don not stop what they are saying, they will get a punishmentAfter completing a comparison between the two languages, it is possible to achieve the followingfrom machine translation:1. Past simple tense in Arabic can be used for the equal tense in English.2. Past tense progressive can be used to convey past continuous (when an action takes a longtime to complete or has a continuous effect).3. Present progressive can be used for an activity that is happening at the moment of speaking.4. Present progressive tense (future simple constructer) can be used to refer to planned eventsor future arrangements, using will or shall.5. Present simple can be employed to express a habitual action relating to the verb.4. ConclusionFrom the above analysis it can be seen that there are very significant differences between Arabicand English in respect of morphology rules and word structure, particularly in respect of verbsystems in the two languages. The prolificacy of free word-order in the Arabic language makes itdifficult to translate, especially when the aim is to create logical sentence structure in English.In both Arabic and English, the perfect aspect is utilised for completed actions in relation to thepresent moment, a moment in the future or a moment in the past. The widespread suppositionheld by translators that Arabic verbs are narrowed to limited indications of past, present andfuture is not correct ( Fayyad, 1997) .This is due to the inefficiency of objectionablemethodology and the atmosphere of teaching. Poor knowledge, inadequate and undisciplinedgrammar practice, and an understanding of syntactical and morphological instruction must becoupled. Occasionally, the problem in the Arabic-English translation due to a lack ofunderstanding of morphological conditions (infixation vs. prefixation), different meanings byindividual form, and the recognition of particular tools contained in contexts. This adds extracomplications to the translation process. These differences pose challenges for designers oftranslation machines. Furthermore, vital comparison tools are required, such as syntactic analysisand morphological analysis, in order to improve the machine translation systems that aim totranslate between Arabic and English. It could be argued that these differences create a gap inmeaning and sense, making the translation process much more complicated.In order to undertake the process of translation, human translators need to acquire threeparticular types of knowledge. The first is knowledge of the source language (Morphology`prefix (es)-stem-suffix (es), semantic, and also syntax) in order to understand the connotationsof the relative text. The second is knowledge of the target language (Morphology prefix (es)-stem-suffix (es), semantic, and also syntax) in order to produce an understandable, satisfactoryand acknowledgeable text. The third type is information relating to the subject matter. Thispermits the translator to recognize and comprehend the precise context of what is beingtranslated from the source language so that it is possible to translate items and structures ofsyntax and make appropriate matches in the target language (Michalski, 2009).ReferencesAbdul-Halim, M., Shamsan, A., and Attayib, A. M. (2015). Inflectional morphology in Arabicand English: a contrastive study. International Journal of English Linguistics. 5, 139.Abdul-Hussein, R, k.,and Ali, J, A.(2008). Time, Tense, and the verb Form in Arabic andEnglish: a Contrastive Study.  ラやキギバャや ∩るΑヲよゲわャや ュヲヤバャやヱ ゆやキΓや ヶプ るΒシキゅボャや るヤイョ1-2 .Al-Saleemi, E. (1987). A contrastive study of the verb systems of English and Arabic. (MastersThesis), Durham University.Badawi, E. S., Carter, M., and Gully, A. (2013). Modern written Arabic: a comprehensivegrammar. Routledge. Printed in New York.Eisele, J. (1990). Time Reference, Tense and Formal Aspect in Cairene Arabic. In E. Mushira(Ed.) Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics, Vol. 1. John Benjamins Publishing. Printed inAmsterdam. pp. 173-212Reishaan,A. K. (2008). The Relationship between Competence and Performance: Towards aComprehensive TG Grammar. るプヲ⇒ムャや ゆやキへ∩1(2).Gadalla, H. A. H. (2006). Arabic imperfect verbs in translation: a corpus study of Englishrenderings. Meta: Translators' Journal. 51, 5171.Gadalla, H. A. H., and Abdel-Hamid, M. E. (2000). Genitive constructions in English andArabic: a contrastive study. Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts, vol. 6. Assiut University. Egypt.pp. 164.Tucker, M. A. (2010). The Morphosyntax of the Arabic Verb: Toward a Unified Syntax-Prosody. Santa Cruz, CA 95064-1077Zollmann, A., Venugopal, A., and Vogel, S. (2006). Bridging the inflection morphology gap forArabic statistical machine translation. Proceedings of the Human Language TechnologyConference of the North American Chapter of the ACL, June 4-9, 2006, New York, pp. 201204.Michalski, M. (2009). Adjectives in hypotaxis: proposed dimensions for a Description ofSyntagms in Modern Written Arabic Lingua Posnaniensis, DOI: 10.2478/v10122-009-0003-051(1)Fayyad, S. (1997) Azminat Al-Fil Al-Arabi Al-Nahwiyyah: Arbaata Ashara Zamanan[Grammatical Tenses of the Arabic Verb: Fourteen Tenses]. Beirut: Dar Al- Mustaqbal Al-Arabi. 80 pp.BiodataJawharah AlasmariPhD student(Arabic, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies)School of language, Cultures and Societies. University of LeedsBackgrounds:Master's degree from the Faculty of Arts and humanities in the Arabiclanguage and literature "morphology, Syntax and linguisticsBachelor's degree in arts and education are allocated, "Arabic language" fromthe Faculty of Education for Girls in Jeddah.Professor Janet C.E. WatsonLeadership Chair for Language at LeedsAreas of expertise: documentation of Modern South Arabian languages;Arabic dialectology; phonology; morphology; acoustic and instrumentalphoneticEric AtwellAssociate ProfessorAreas of expertise: data mining; text analytics; computing; linguistics;language; semantics; ontology; Arabic; Quran; English; artificial intelligence;machine learning; knowledge based systems; heath informatics; autism

A comparative analysis between Arabic and English of the verbal system using google translate

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A comparative analysis between Arabic and English of the verbal system using google translate

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