Monthly Archives: June 2020

Modulators of determinants

We have mentioned the special category of determinant modulators. It seems that this category is interesting and deserves to be explored further. A determinant modulator is placed before a determinant and changes its meaning. As we have already seen, from the viewpoint of two-sided grammar, a determinant preceded by a determinant modulator (MODD) remains a determinant.

We can give some examples that apply to different categories of determinants:

  • MODD applying to possessive determinants (mes, tes, ses, nos, vos, leurs; my, your, his/her, our, your, their; i me, i to, i so, i nostri, i vostri, i so), demonstrative determinants (ces; these; ‘ssi/’sse) and definite article determinants (les; the; i/e): certaines de, certains de, l’un de, l’une de, la majeure partie de, la plupart de, tous, toutes, une bonne partie de, une grande partie de; some of, some of, one of, one of, most of, most of, all of, all of, a good part of, a large part of; une poche di, uni pochi di, unu di, una di, parte è più di, a maiò parte di, tutti, tutte, une bella parte di, parte assai di. Here are some examples: “certains de mes chevaux étaient bruns” (some of my horses were brown; uni pochi di i me cavalli eranu bruni); la majeure partie des (= de les) habitants étaient riches (most of the inhabitants were rich; a maiò parte di l’abitanti eranu ricchi).

In addition, we have three other categories of MODDs that have already been mentioned:

  • MODD applying to cardinal determinants (deux, trois, quatre, cinq, … ; two, three, four, five…; dui, trè, quattru, cinqui,…): au moins, presque, quasiment, environ, plus de, moins de, approximativement, etc. (at least, almost, nearly, about, more than, less than, approximately, etc. ; alminu, guasgi, guasgi, circa, più di, menu di, apprussimativamenti, etc.)
  • MODD applying to indefinite article determinants: plus de, au moins; more than, at least; più di, alminu
  • MODD applying to indefinite determinants (aucun, aucune, quelques; none, none, a few ; nisciunu, nisciuna, calchì): au moins, presque; at least, almost; alminu, guasi

Finally, it seems that this category of MODD has some consistency and could be of practical interest.

Grammatical categories by position again: the case of adverbs and modulators placed before a modulator

Let us try to delve more deeply into the case of adverbs. We shall continue now to define them by their position in relation to other grammatical categories. The result is that adverbs are divided into several different categories. Now let’s look at the adverbs that may be placed before an adjective modulator. To begin with, let us cite but a few adjective modulators:

  • peu, très, extrêmement, surtout, étonnamment, à peine, vraiment, assez, bien, trop, tellement, etc.
  • pocu, assai, estremamente, sopratuttu, in modu stunante, appena, propriu/propria/proprii/proprie, abbastanza, bellu/bella/belli/belle, troppu/troppa/troppi, troppe, tantu/tanta, tanti/tante, etc.
  • not very, very, extremely, especially, surprisingly, hardly, really, enough, all/very, too, so, etc.

Now some modulators of adjective modulators are:

  • pas, peut-être, surtout, vraiment, etc.
  • micca, forse, soprattuttu, veramente, è cetera.
  • not, maybe, mostly, really, etc.

Here are some relevant examples: “il était surtout trop blanc” (he was mostly too white, era sopratuttu troppu biancu); “il était vraiment très beau” (he was really very beautiful, era propriu bellissimu); “il était bien trop grand” (he was far too tall ; era bellu troppu maiore).

Let’s call this category modulators of adjective modulators. The fact of being placed before the adjective modulator is related to the fact that the modulator modifies the meaning of the adjectivemodulator.

Hence, if we reason in terms of two-sided grammar, an adjective modulator preceded by a modulator remains an adjective modulator: MOD-MODAQ = MODAQ.

To sum up. So far we have distinguished several categories among the classical class of adverbs:

  • modulators of adjectives
  • modulators preceding verbs: verb pre-modulators
  • modulators following verbs: verb post-modulators
  • modulators preceding cardinal determinants
  • modulators preceding adjective modulators

Grammatical categories by position: the case of adverbs and modulators placed before a determinant

Let us try to delve more deeply into the case of adverbs, trying to define them by their position in relation to other grammatical categories. The adverbs are divided into several different categories. Now let’s look at the adverbs that may be placed before a determinant:

  • au moins, presque, quasiment, environ, plus de, moins de, approximativement, etc.
  • alminu, guasgi, guasgi, circa, più di, menu di, apprussimativamenti, etc.
  • at least, almost, nearly, about, more than, less than, approximately, etc.

Here are some examples: “au moins cinq chevaux dormaient” (at least five horses were spleeping, alminu cinqui cavaddi durmiani); “pendant presque un an” (for almost a year, mentri guasgi un annu); “presque aucun soldat ne manquait” (almost no soldier was missing ; guasgi nisciunu suldatu ùn mancava).

Let’s call these categories modulators (of determinants). The fact of being placed before the determinant is related to the fact that the modulator modifies the meaning of the determinant. The relevant determinants are:

  • cardinal determinants: deux, trois, quatre, cinq, … (two, three, four, five…; dui, trè, quattru, cinqui,…)
  • indefinite article determinants
  • indefinite determinants: aucun, aucune, quelques (none, none, a few ; nisciunu, nisciuna, calchì)

Hence, if we reason in terms of two-sided grammar, a determinant preceded by a modulator remains a determinant: MODD-D = D.

To sum up. So far we have distinguished several categories among the classical class of adverbs:

  • modulators of adjectives
  • modulators preceding verbs
  • modulators following verbs
  • modulators preceding cardinal determinants

Grammatical categories by position: the case of adverbs and verb modulators placed before the verb

Let us look again at the case of adverbs and try to define them by their position in relation to other grammatical categories. We are now splitting the adverbs into several different categories. Now let’s look at the adverbs that may be placed before the conjugated verb:

  • aussitôt, jamais, longtemps, parfois, quelquefois, rarement, souvent, toujours, etc.
  • subitu subitu, mai, à longu, ogni tantu, qualchì volta, raramente, à spessu, sempre, etc.
  • immediately, never, long, sometimes, rarely, often, always, etc.

Here is an example: “Michel parfois buvait.” (Michel sometimes drank.): Michele qualchì volta beìa .

Let’s call these categories modulators (of verbs). The fact of being placed before the verb is linked to the fact that the modulator modifies the meaning of the verb. Moreover, if we reason in terms of two-sided grammar, a verb preceded by a (verb) modulator remains a verb: MODV-V = V.

Grammatical categories by position: the case of adverbs and verb modulators

If we look again at the case of adverbs and try to define them by their position in relation to other grammatical categories, it follows that we need to split the adverbs into several different categories. To begin with, some adverbs are placed after a verb:

  • bien, doucement, lentement, mal, vite, volontiers, fort, trop, quelquefois, souvent, peu, rarement, tard, tôt, toujours, déjà, bientôt, beaucoup, etc.
  • bè, pianamenti, pianu, mali, in freccia, vulinteri, forti, troppu, calchì volta, à spessu, pocu, raramenti, tardi, in freccia, sempri, dighjà, prestu, mori, etc.
  • well, gently, slowly, badly, quickly, willingly, strongly, too much, sometimes, often, little, rarely, late, early, always, already, soon, a lot, etc.

Here are some examples: “il mange beaucoup; tu fumes trop” (he eats a lot; you smoke too much): manghja mori ; fumi troppu

Let’s call these categories verb modulators. The fact of being placed after the verb is linked to the fact that the modulator modifies the meaning of the verb. Moreover, if we reason in terms of two-sided grammar, a verb followed by a modulator remains a verb: V-MODV = V.

Grammatical categories by position: the case of adverbs and adjective modulators

If we look at the case of adverbs and try to define them by their position in relation to other grammatical categories, it follows that we need to split the adverbs into several different categories. To begin with, some adverbs are placed before an adjective:

  • peu, très, extrêmement, surtout, étonnamment, à peine, vraiment, assez, bien, trop, tellement, etc.
  • pocu, assai, estremamente, sopratuttu, in modu stunante, appena, propriu/propria/proprii/proprie, abbastanza, bellu/bella/belli/belle, troppu/troppa/troppi, troppe, tantu/tanta, tanti/tante, etc.
  • not very, very, extremely, especially, surprisingly, hardly, really, enough, all/very, too, so, etc.

Let’s call these categories modulators (of adjectives). The fact of being placed before the adjective is linked to the fact that the modulator modifies the meaning of the adjective. Moreover, if we reason in terms of two-sided grammar, a modulator followed by an adjective remains an adjective: MODAQ-AQ = AQ.

The fact that we are dealing here with adjective modulators is well illustrated by the fact that the equivalents in the Corsican language accord with the corresponding adjectives: “ils sont bien contents” = sò belli cuntenti = they are well satisfied; “elle est tellement contente” = hè tanta cuntente = she’s so happy.

Defining grammatical types

It seems that a reflection on the nature of grammatical type is necessary. The categories of common noun, qualifying adjective, verb, personal pronoun, etc. are well known. But what is a grammatical type? What is the criterion for distinguishing them? For the purposes of machine translation, the notion of grammatical type must be defined rigorously and precisely. Categories have an important role to play in the translation process, especially in the crucial process of disambiguation. The appropriate criterion here seems to be the place of one grammatical category in relation to another. For example, the definite article determinant precedes the common noun.

New considerations on priority language pairs for machine translation: thinking to Gallurese language

The question is whether to implement the Italian-Gallurese pair or the French-Gallurese pair. As already emphasized, the Italian-Gallurese pair is a priority. But since some excellent translators such as Deepl are able to translate Italian-French very correctly, it follows that the Italian-Gallurese translation can be done in two steps: first Italian-French and then French-Gallurese. Implementing the French-Gallurese pair is much easier for rule-based MT than implementing the Italian-Gallurese pair. The idea here is to keep the priorities, but these priorities could be reached more easily with the help of intermediate pairs.