Monthly Archives: October 2018

Is rule-based MT more ethical than statistical MT?

In the ongoing debate on safe IA, it is a relevant open question of whether rule-based MT is more ethical than statistical MT. Here are some arguments in favor of rule-based MT in this context (without blaming statistical MT which has its own strengths):

  • it emulates human reasoning: it translates a text just as a human would do
  • there is much control on rule-based MT since the resulting translated text can be traced back: a detailed step-by-step translation process can be provided if required
  • rule-based MT can be consistently part of and integrate itself into a whole project of brain emulation, which emulates general human reasoning

A specific kind of superlative

Let us consider a specific kind of superlative. Such form specific to Corsican language is notably mentioned by grammarian and author Santu Casta, in his  Punteghju, who recommends the following translation of “C’était le village le plus riche du canton” (It was the richest village of the canton):  Era u più paese riccu di stu cantone (pages 26 & 54-55). The structure is original in the sense that the comparative (più) precedes the noun (campanile, bell tower) that precedes the adjective (altu, high).