Hammouda Salhi Hammouda Salhi University of Carthage, Tunisia UCCTS 2010 Ormskirk, UK .

Hammouda SalhiHammouda Salhi

University of Carthage, TunisiaUniversity of Carthage, Tunisia

UCCTS 2010UCCTS 2010Ormskirk, UKOrmskirk, UK

http://translationinfo.webs.com http://www.freewebs.com/hsalhi

UUsing Corpora sing Corpora in Contrastive in Contrastive

and Translation and Translation StudiesStudies

(UCCTS 2010) (UCCTS 2010)

27th July 2010 - 29th July 2010 27th July 2010 - 29th July 2010 Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UKEdge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK



TTranslating ranslating ambiguous lexical ambiguous lexical items using a items using a parallel corpus:parallel corpus:A case study of ‘A case study of ‘goodgood’ in ’ in the EAPCOUNTthe EAPCOUNT

HHammoudaammouda SSalhialhiUniversity of Carthage, TunisiaUniversity of Carthage, Tunisia

[email protected][email protected] http://translationinfo.webs.com http://translationinfo.webs.com

http://www.freewebs.com/hsalhihttp://www.freewebs.com/hsalhi

Slide 3http://translationinfo.webs.com http://www.freewebs.com/hsalhi




Polysemy in language and Polysemy in language and translationtranslation

““Get”Get” ““Constitution”Constitution”

‘‘Polysemy is ubiquitous in language and its investigation Polysemy is ubiquitous in language and its investigation has a considerable potential for illuminating human has a considerable potential for illuminating human

cognition’ cognition’ (Brown and Witkowski, 1983:83)(Brown and Witkowski, 1983:83)

““Shall”Shall”

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Slide 6UCCTS 2010UCCTS 2010Ormskirk, UKOrmskirk, UK

Significance of lexical Significance of lexical meaningmeaning

““Would you please give your honest opinion Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?”rest of the world?” The survey was a huge failure...The survey was a huge failure... In Africa: “In Africa: “foodfood” ???” ??? In Eastern Europe: “In Eastern Europe: “honesthonest” ???” ???In Western Europe: “In Western Europe: “shortageshortage” ???” ???In China: “In China: “opinionopinion” ???” ???In the Middle East: “In the Middle East: “solutionsolution” ???” ???In South America: “In South America: “pleaseplease” ???” ???And in the USA: “And in the USA: “the rest of the worldthe rest of the world” ???” ???



Aims:Aims: To draw attention to the centrality of To draw attention to the centrality of

lexical ambiguity in the translation processlexical ambiguity in the translation process To propose a corpus approach for the To propose a corpus approach for the

investigation of CP in translation investigation of CP in translation To reveal the ambiguous behavior of ‘good’ To reveal the ambiguous behavior of ‘good’

in the EAPCOUNTin the EAPCOUNT To show how to enhance translator training To show how to enhance translator training

through insights into such an ambiguous through insights into such an ambiguous behaviorbehavior

Presentation structurePresentation structure

Slide 8http://translationinfo.webs.com http://www.freewebs.com/hsalhi


1.1. Translation literature and lexical Translation literature and lexical ambiguityambiguity

2.2. The Generative Lexicon theoryThe Generative Lexicon theory

3.3. The EAPCOUNTThe EAPCOUNT

4.4. Translating prototypical Translating prototypical meanings of itemsmeanings of items

5.5. The ambiguous behavior of The ambiguous behavior of ‘good’ as revealed by the ‘good’ as revealed by the EAPCOUNTEAPCOUNT

6.6. Final messageFinal message

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Translation literature Translation literature and lexical ambiguityand lexical ambiguity


Lexical ambiguity is handled as part of :Lexical ambiguity is handled as part of : Structural ambiguityStructural ambiguity

eg. Flying planes can be dangerouseg. Flying planes can be dangerous Some translation universals such as simplification Some translation universals such as simplification

(Toury, 1995)(Toury, 1995) Problems of anaphoric reference, eg. Pronouns Problems of anaphoric reference, eg. Pronouns Gender problem, (Baker, 1992: 90)Gender problem, (Baker, 1992: 90)

TakenTaken :: mainly from a mainly from a paradigmaticparadigmatic perspective perspective as a problem of vagueness and underspecificationas a problem of vagueness and underspecification

As an accidental problem in language and As an accidental problem in language and translation: treated on a case-by-case basistranslation: treated on a case-by-case basis

What is needed: What is needed: an empirical an empirical investigation of investigation of

lexical ambiguity in translationlexical ambiguity in translation


Developments NLP and Developments NLP and MTMT

Importance of lexical Importance of lexical ambiguityambiguity

Centrality of the Centrality of the disambiguation process: disambiguation process: one of the one of the greatestgreatest challenges for MT challenges for MT researchers (researchers (PingPing, , 2009)2009)


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The Generative Lexicon The Generative Lexicon theorytheory

One of the main assumptions of the theoryOne of the main assumptions of the theory One of the main contributionsOne of the main contributions

Contrastive polysemyContrastive polysemya. The bank of the river, b. The richest bank in the city (synchronically NOT related meanings)

Complementary polysemyComplementary polysemya. The school was built in 1932, b. What will you do when you finish school?, c. The Venetian school of painting, etc. (synchronically related meanings as they have a common core meaning and they complement each other in each context )

Prototypical meaning vs. word usagePrototypical meaning vs. word usage


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The EAPCOUNTThe EAPCOUNT The English-Arabic Parallel Corpus Of United Nations TextsThe English-Arabic Parallel Corpus Of United Nations Texts 261 texts aligned on a paragraph basis, and 6.8 million 261 texts aligned on a paragraph basis, and 6.8 million

tokenstokens Consists mainly, but not exclusively, of resolutions and Consists mainly, but not exclusively, of resolutions and

annual reports issued by different UN organizations and annual reports issued by different UN organizations and institutionsinstitutions

Time-frame of about 14 years (1996 – 2009): 93.87% of the Time-frame of about 14 years (1996 – 2009): 93.87% of the texts were produced over a period of 9 years, namely from texts were produced over a period of 9 years, namely from 2001 to 20092001 to 2009



Compiling the EAPCOUNTCompiling the EAPCOUNT


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Translating prototypical Translating prototypical meanings itemsmeanings items


“bad offices do not yield good achievements” Arabic: Arabic: (( جيدة مم انجازات تسفر لم سيئة جيدة كاتب انجازات تسفر لم سيئة كاتب ))

The offices of bad did not produce good achievementsThe offices of bad did not produce good achievements Chinese : (Chinese : ( 坏办事处不产生良好成绩坏办事处不产生良好成绩 ) )

Office does not produce good results in badOffice does not produce good results in bad French :French : (mauvais offices ne donnent pas de bonnes réalisations) (mauvais offices ne donnent pas de bonnes réalisations)

Bad services do not give good realizationsBad services do not give good realizations GermanGerman : (Bad Büros nicht erbringen gute Leistungen) (Bad Büros nicht erbringen gute Leistungen)

Good performances do not produce bath of officeGood performances do not produce bath of office Italian : Italian : (uffici cattivo non danno buoni risultati)(uffici cattivo non danno buoni risultati) : :

offices I win doesn't give good resultsoffices I win doesn't give good results Portuguese Portuguese : ((escritórios ruim não rendem bons resultados)escritórios ruim não rendem bons resultados) : :

offices bad not yield good resultsoffices bad not yield good results Spanish Spanish : (oficinas mal no dan buenos resultados)(oficinas mal no dan buenos resultados): :

Offices badly do not give good resultsOffices badly do not give good results Swahili Swahili : (ofisi mbaya wala mavuno mafanikio mema)(ofisi mbaya wala mavuno mafanikio mema): :

bad office success and good harvestbad office success and good harvest


The ambiguous behavior ofThe ambiguous behavior of ‘good’ in the EAPCOUNT ‘good’ in the EAPCOUNT


TheThe concordancer concordancer AntConc 3.2.1w found AntConc 3.2.1w found 326 instances of 326 instances of ‘good’ in the EAPCOUNT, 2 instances are nouns‘good’ in the EAPCOUNT, 2 instances are nouns

Total number of heads: 28Total number of heads: 28 Number of Arabic equivalents: 22Number of Arabic equivalents: 22

324 instances of the adjective ‘good’ in the EAPCOUNT 22 different Arabic equivalents are found for ‘good’ in the corpus

Occurrences of ‘good’ in the Occurrences of ‘good’ in the EAPCOUNT 1EAPCOUNT 1



Occurrences of ‘good’ in the Occurrences of ‘good’ in the EAPCOUNT 2EAPCOUNT 2




Case of domain-specific Case of domain-specific collocationscollocations

Case of the equivalent Case of the equivalent رشيدرشيد ((raʃīdraʃīd)) literally ‘right-guided’, ‘following the right (raʃīd) literally ‘right-guided’, ‘following the right (raʃīd) رشيدرشيد

path’, etc.) 91 occurrencespath’, etc.) 91 occurrences GoodGood in this case collocates with only one head in this case collocates with only one head

noun, namely noun, namely GovernanceGovernance (2.77% of the heads) (2.77% of the heads) It is specific to the diplomatic contextIt is specific to the diplomatic context

Case of the equivalent Case of the equivalent حميدةحميدة((ħamīdaħamīda)) literally ‘literally ‘benignbenign’, ‘’, ‘benignantbenignant’, etc.) 72 ’, etc.) 72 ( (ħamīdaħamīda))حميدةحميدة

occurrancesoccurrances, , Good in this case collocates with only one head Good in this case collocates with only one head

noun, namely offices (masāʕin) (2.77% of the heads)noun, namely offices (masāʕin) (2.77% of the heads) It is specific to the diplomatic contextIt is specific to the diplomatic context

When a collocation is domain-specific is becomes When a collocation is domain-specific is becomes harder for trainees to find appropriate equivalents harder for trainees to find appropriate equivalents for both the node and collocate as it requires for both the node and collocate as it requires specialized knowledge of, say, diplomatic languagespecialized knowledge of, say, diplomatic language



Case of typical collocationsCase of typical collocations

Case of the equivalentCase of the equivalent جيدجيد (ʒajid) (ʒajid) 81 (ʒajid, literally ‘of good quality’, ‘well’, etc): 81 :(ʒajid, literally ‘of good quality’, ‘well’, etc) جيدجيد

occurrencesoccurrences GoodGood collocates with 20 different heads: collocates with 20 different heads: (55.55% of (55.55% of

the heads):the heads): Practice, relationships, cooperation, Practice, relationships, cooperation, roads, political instincts, effect, progress, roads, political instincts, effect, progress, examples, alternatives, education, coordination, examples, alternatives, education, coordination, data, institutional capacity, level of awareness, job, data, institutional capacity, level of awareness, job, living, position, start, stead.living, position, start, stead.

Trainees tend to attach to it more importance than it Trainees tend to attach to it more importance than it really meritsreally merits



Case of non-typical Case of non-typical collocations collocations

Case of the equivalentCase of the equivalent عظيمعظيم(ʕadhīm) (ʕadhīm) ʕadhīmʕadhīm, literally ‘magnificent’, ‘great’, etc): 2 , literally ‘magnificent’, ‘great’, etc): 2عظيمعظيم

occurrencesoccurrences Good in this case collocates with only one head Good in this case collocates with only one head

noun, namely Friday (2.77% of the heads)noun, namely Friday (2.77% of the heads)

Not a common collocation in the Arabic language, Not a common collocation in the Arabic language, especially among the Muslim communityespecially among the Muslim community



General findingsGeneral findings

Ambiguity degree of Ambiguity degree of goodgood: : 79% 79% GoodGood is a very ambiguous item. is a very ambiguous item. The number of heads modified by ‘good’ The number of heads modified by ‘good’

is 28is 28 The number of existing equivalents is 22. The number of existing equivalents is 22. In the 79% of the instances, good In the 79% of the instances, good

requires a new equivalent whenever it requires a new equivalent whenever it combines with a new head noun. combines with a new head noun.

The ambiguous behavior of this adjective and The ambiguous behavior of this adjective and the establishment of equivalence at both the establishment of equivalence at both word and collocation levels depend heavily word and collocation levels depend heavily on the head noun that it modifies.on the head noun that it modifies.


Final MessageFinal Messageالكالم الكالم آخر آخر BBecause the act of ecause the act of

disambiguating items is part disambiguating items is part and parcel of the process of and parcel of the process of translation, lexical ambiguity translation, lexical ambiguity should be handled as the norm should be handled as the norm rather than the exception in rather than the exception in translation and the inner voice translation and the inner voice of professional translators of professional translators should be heard now by trainee should be heard now by trainee translatorstranslators. . Thank YouThank You

MerciMerci وشكراوشكرا ANY QUESTIONSANY QUESTIONS? ?



Final MessageFinal Messageالكالم الكالم آخر آخر




28UCCTS 2010UCCTS 2010Ormskirk, UKOrmskirk, UK

Hammouda Salhi Hammouda Salhi University of Carthage, Tunisia UCCTS 2010 Ormskirk, UK .

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