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diff --git a/deprecated/doc/gf-summerschool.txt b/deprecated/doc/gf-summerschool.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000..0acf9177d --- /dev/null +++ b/deprecated/doc/gf-summerschool.txt @@ -0,0 +1,533 @@ +GF Resource Grammar Summer School +Gothenburg, 17-28 August 2009 +Aarne Ranta (aarne at chalmers.se) + +%!Encoding : iso-8859-1 + +%!target:html +%!postproc(html): #BECE <center> +%!postproc(html): #ENCE </center> +%!postproc(html): #GRAY <font color="green" size="-1"> +%!postproc(html): #EGRAY </font> +%!postproc(html): #RED <font color="red"> +%!postproc(html): #YELLOW <font color="orange"> +%!postproc(html): #ERED </font> + +#BECE +[school-langs.png] +#ENCE + + +//red=wanted, green=exists, orange=in-progress, solid=official-eu, dotted=non-eu// + + +==News== + +An on-line course //GF for Resource Grammar Writers// will start on +Monday 20 April at 15.30 CEST. The slides and recordings of the five +45-minute lectures will be made available via this web page. If requested, +the course may be repeated in the beginning of the summer school. + + +==Executive summary== + +GF Resource Grammar Library is an open-source computational grammar resource +that currently covers 12 languages. +The Summer School is a part of a collaborative effort to extend the library +to all of the 23 official EU languages. Also other languages +chosen by the participants are welcome. + +The missing EU languages are: +Czech, Dutch, Estonian, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian, +Maltese, Portuguese, Slovak, and Slovenian. There is also more work to +be done on Polish and Romanian. + +The linguistic coverage of the library includes the inflectional morphology +and basic syntax of each language. It can be used in GF applications +and also ported to other formats. It can also be used for building other +linguistic resources, such as morphological lexica and parsers. +The library is licensed under LGPL. + +In the summer school, each language will be implemented by one or two students +working together. A morphology implementation will be credited +as a Chalmers course worth 7.5 ETCS points; adding a syntax implementation +will be worth more. The estimated total work load is 1-2 months for the +morphology, and 3-6 months for the whole grammar. + +Participation in the course is free. Registration is done via the courses's +Google group, [``groups.google.com/group/gf-resource-school-2009/`` http://groups.google.com/group/gf-resource-school-2009/]. The registration deadline is 15 June 2009. + +Some travel grants will be available. They are distributed on the basis of a +GF programming contest in April and May. + +The summer school will be held on 17-28 August 2009, at the campus of +Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. + + +[align6.png] + +//Word alignment produced by GF from the resource grammar in Bulgarian, English, Italian, German, Finnish, French, and Swedish.// + +==Introduction== + +Since 2007, EU-27 has 23 official languages, listed in the diagram on top of this +document. There is a growing need of linguistic resources for these +languages, to help in tasks such as translation and information retrieval. +These resources should be **portable** and **freely accessible**. +Languages marked in red in the diagram are of particular interest for +the summer school, since they are those on which the effort will be concentrated. + +GF (Grammatical Framework, +[``digitalgrammars.com/gf`` http://digitalgrammars.com/gf]) +is a **functional programming language** designed for writing natural +language grammars. It provides an efficient platform for this task, due to +its modern characteristics: +- It is a functional programming language, similar to Haskell and ML. +- It has a static type system and type checker. +- It has a powerful module system supporting separate compilation + and data abstraction. +- It has an optimizing compiler to **Portable Grammar Format** (PGF). +- PGF can be further compiled to other formats, such as JavaScript and + speech recognition language models. +- GF has a **resource grammar library** giving access to the morphology and + basic syntax of 12 languages. + + +In addition to "ordinary" grammars for single languages, GF +supports **multilingual grammars**. A multilingual GF grammar consists of an +**abstract syntax** and a set of **concrete syntaxes**. +An abstract syntax is system of **trees**, serving as a semantic +model or an ontology. A concrete syntax is a mapping from abstract syntax +trees to strings of a particular language. + +These mappings defined in concrete syntax are **reversible**: they +can be used both for **generating** strings from trees, and for +**parsing** strings into trees. Combinations of generation and +parsing can be used for **translation**, where the abstract +syntax works as an **interlingua**. Thus GF has been used as a +framework for building translation systems in several areas +of application and large sets of languages. + + + +==The GF resource grammar library== + +The GF resource grammar library is a set of grammars usable as libraries when +building translation systems and other applications. +The library currently covers +the 9 languages coloured in green in the diagram above; in addition, +Catalan, Norwegian, and Russian are covered, and there is ongoing work on +Arabic, Hindi/Urdu, Polish, Romanian, and Thai. + +The purpose of the resource grammar library is to define the "low-level" structure +of a language: inflection, word order, agreement. This structure belongs to what +linguists call morphology and syntax. It can be very complex and requires +a lot of knowledge. Yet, when translating from one language to +another, knowing morphology and syntax is but a part of what is needed. +The translator (whether human +or machine) must understand the meaning of what is translated, and must also know +the idiomatic way to express the meaning in the target language. This knowledge +can be very domain-dependent and requires in general an expert in the field to +reach high quality: a mathematician in the field of mathematics, a meteorologist +in the field of weather reports, etc. + +The problem is to find a person who is an expert in both the domain of translation +and in the low-level linguistic details. It is the rareness of this combination +that has made it difficult to build interlingua-based translation systems. +The GF resource grammar library has the mission of helping in this task. +It encapsulates the low-level linguistics in program modules +accessed through easy-to-use interfaces. +Experts on different domains can build translation systems by using the library, +without knowing low-level linguistics. The idea is much the same as when a +programmer builds a graphical user interface (GUI) from high-level elements such as +buttons and menus, without having to care about pixels or geometrical forms. + + +===Missing EU languages, by the family=== + +Writing a grammar for a language is usually easier if other languages +from the same family already have grammars. The colours have the same +meaning as in the diagram above. + +Baltic: +#RED Latvian #ERED +#RED Lithuanian #ERED + +Celtic: +#RED Irish #ERED + +Fenno-Ugric: +#RED Estonian #ERED +#GRAY Finnish #EGRAY +#RED Hungarian #ERED + +Germanic: +#GRAY Danish #EGRAY +#RED Dutch #ERED +#GRAY English #EGRAY +#GRAY German #EGRAY +#GRAY Swedish #EGRAY + +Hellenic: +#RED Greek #ERED + +Romance: +#GRAY French #EGRAY +#GRAY Italian #EGRAY +#RED Portuguese #ERED +#YELLOW Romanian #ERED +#GRAY Spanish #EGRAY + +Semitic: +#RED Maltese #ERED + +Slavonic: +#GRAY Bulgarian #EGRAY +#RED Czech #ERED +#YELLOW Polish #ERED +#RED Slovak #ERED +#RED Slovenian #ERED + + + + + + +===Applications of the library=== + +In addition to translation, the library is also useful in **localization**, +that is, porting a piece of software to new languages. +The GF resource grammar library has been used in three major projects that need +interlingua-based translation or localization of systems to new languages: +- in KeY, + [``http://www.key-project.org/`` http://www.key-project.org/], + for writing formal and informal software specifications (3 languages) +- in WebALT, + [``http://webalt.math.helsinki.fi/content/index_eng.html`` http://webalt.math.helsinki.fi/content/index_eng.html], + for translating mathematical exercises to 7 languages +- in TALK [``http://www.talk-project.org`` http://www.talk-project.org], + where the library was used for localizing spoken dialogue systems + to six languages + + +The library is also a generic **linguistic resource**, +which can be used for tasks +such as language teaching and information retrieval. The liberal license (LGPL) +makes it usable for anyone and for any task. GF also has tools supporting the +use of grammars in programs written in other +programming languages: C, C++, Haskell, +Java, JavaScript, and Prolog. In connection with the TALK project, +support has also been +developed for translating GF grammars to language models used in speech +recognition (GSL/Nuance, HTK/ATK, SRGS, JSGF). + + + +===The structure of the library=== + +The library has the following main parts: +- **Inflection paradigms**, covering the inflection of each language. +- **Core Syntax**, covering a large set of syntax rule that + can be implemented for all languages involved. +- **Common Test Lexicon**, giving ca. 500 common words that can be used for + testing the library. +- **Language-Specific Syntax Extensions**, covering syntax rules that are + not implementable for all languages. +- **Language-Specific Lexica**, word lists for each language, with + accurate morphological and syntactic information. + + +The goal of the summer school is to implement, for each language, at least +the first three components. The latter three are more open-ended in character. + + +==The summer school== + +The goal of the summer school is to extend the GF resource grammar library +to covering all 23 EU languages, which means we need 15 new languages. +We also welcome other languages than these 23, +if there are interested participants. + +The amount of work and skill is between a Master's thesis and a PhD thesis. +The Russian implementation was made by Janna Khegai as a part of her +PhD thesis; the thesis contains other material, too. +The Arabic implementation was started by Ali El Dada in his Master's thesis, +but the thesis does not cover the whole API. The realistic amount of work is +somewhere between 3 and 8 person months, +but this is very much language-dependent. +Dutch, for instance, can profit from previous implementations of German and +Scandinavian languages, and will probably require less work. +Latvian and Lithuanian are the first languages of the Baltic family and +will probably require more work. + +In any case, the proposed allocation of work power is 2 participants per +language. They will do 1 months' worth of home work, followed +by 2 weeks of summer school, followed by 4 months work at home. +Who are these participants? + + +===Selecting participants=== + +Persons interested to participate in the Summer School should sign up in +the **Google Group** of the course, + +[``groups.google.com/group/gf-resource-school-2009/`` http://groups.google.com/group/gf-resource-school-2009/] + +The registration deadline is 15 June 2009. + +Notice: you can sign up in the Google +group even if you are not planning to attend the summer school, but are +just interested in the topic. There will be a separate registration to the +school itself later. + +The participants are recommended to learn GF in advance, by self-study from the +[tutorial http://digitalgrammars.com/gf/doc/gf-tutorial.html]. +This should take a couple of weeks. An **on-line course** will be +arranged on 20-29 April to help in getting started with GF. + +At the end of the on-line course, a **programming assignment** will be published. +This assignment will test skills required in resource grammar programming. +Work on the assignment will take a couple of weeks. +Those who are interested in getting a travel grant will submit +their sample resource grammar fragment +to the Summer School Committee by 12 May. +The Committee then decides who is given a travel grant of up to 1000 EUR. + +Notice: you can participate in the summer school without following the on-line +course or participating in the contest. These things are required only if you +want a travel grant. If requested by enough many participants, the lectures of +the on-line course will be repeated in the beginning of the summer school. + +The summer school itself is devoted for working on resource grammars. +In addition to grammar writing itself, testing and evaluation is +performed. One way to do this is via adding new languages +to resource grammar applications - in particular, to the WebALT mathematical +exercise translator. + +The resource grammars are expected to be completed by December 2009. They will +be published at GF website and licensed under LGPL. + +The participants are encouraged to contact each other and even work in groups. + + + +===Who is qualified=== + +Writing a resource grammar implementation requires good general programming +skills, and a good explicit knowledge of the grammar of the target language. +A typical participant could be +- native or fluent speaker of the target language +- interested in languages on the theoretical level, and preferably familiar + with many languages (to be able to think about them on an abstract level) +- familiar with functional programming languages such as ML or Haskell + (GF itself is a language similar to these) +- on Master's or PhD level in linguistics, computer science, or mathematics + + +But it is the quality of the assignment that is assessed, not any formal +requirements. The "typical participant" was described to give an idea of +who is likely to succeed in this. + + +===Costs=== + +The summer school is free of charge. + +Some travel grants are given, on the basis of a programming contest, +to cover travel and accommodation costs up to 1000 EUR +per person. + +The number of grants will be decided during Spring 2009, and the grand +holders will be notified before the beginning of June. + +Special terms will apply to students in +[GSLT http://www.gslt.hum.gu.se/] and +[NGSLT http://ngslt.org/]. + + + + + +===Teachers=== + +A list of teachers will be published here later. Some of the local teachers +probably involved are the following: +- Krasimir Angelov +- Robin Cooper +- Håkan Burden +- Markus Forsberg +- Harald Hammarström +- Peter Ljunglöf +- Aarne Ranta + + +More teachers are welcome! If you are interested, please contact us so that +we can discuss your involvement and travel arrangements. + +In addition to teachers, we will look for consultants who can help to assess +the results for each language. Please contact us! + + + +===The Summer School Committee=== + +This committee consists of a number of teachers and informants, +who will select the participants. It will be selected by April 2009. + + +===Time and Place=== + +The summer school will +be organized at the campus of Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, +Sweden, on 17-28 August 2009. + +Time schedule: +- February: announcement of summer school +- 20-29 April: on-line course +- 12 May: submission deadline for assignment work +- 31 May: review of assignments, notifications of acceptance +- 15 June: **registration deadline** +- 17-28 August: Summer School +- September-December: homework on resource grammars +- December: release of the extended Resource Grammar Library + + +===Dissemination and intellectual property=== + +The new resource grammars will be released under the LGPL just like +the current resource grammars, +with the copyright held by respective authors. + +The grammars will be distributed via the GF web site. + + + +==Why I should participate== + +Seven reasons: ++ participation in a pioneering language technology work in an + enthusiastic atmosphere ++ work and fun with people from all over Europe and the world ++ job opportunities and business ideas ++ credits: the school project will be established as a course at Chalmers worth + 7.5 or 15 ETCS points per person, depending on the work accompliched; also + extensions to Master's thesis will be considered (special credit arrangements + for [GSLT http://www.gslt.hum.gu.se/] and [NGSLT http://ngslt.org/]) ++ merits: the resulting grammar can easily lead to a published paper (see below) ++ contribution to the multilingual and multicultural development of Europe and the + world ++ free trip and stay in Gothenburg (for travel grant students) + + +==More information== + +[Course Google Group http://groups.google.com/group/gf-resource-school-2009/] + +[GF web page http://digitalgrammars.com/gf/] + +[GF tutorial http://digitalgrammars.com/gf/doc/gf-tutorial.html] + +[GF resource synopsis http://digitalgrammars.com/gf/lib/resource/doc/synopsis.html] + +[Resource-HOWTO document http://digitalgrammars.com/gf/doc/Resource-HOWTO.html] + + +===Contact=== + +Håkan Burden: burden at chalmers se + +Aarne Ranta: aarne at chalmers se + + + +===Selected publications from earlier resource grammar projects=== + +K. Angelov. +Type-Theoretical Bulgarian Grammar. +In B. Nordström and A. Ranta (eds), +//Advances in Natural Language Processing (GoTAL 2008)//, +LNCS/LNAI 5221, Springer, +2008. + +B. Bringert. +//Programming Language Techniques for Natural Language Applications//. +Phd thesis, Computer Science, University of Gothenburg, +2008. + +A. El Dada and A. Ranta. +Implementing an Open Source Arabic Resource Grammar in GF. +In M. Mughazy (ed), +//Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XX. Papers from the Twentieth Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Kalamazoo, March 26// +John Benjamins Publishing Company. +2007. + +A. El Dada. +Implementation of the Arabic Numerals and their Syntax in GF. +Computational Approaches to Semitic Languages: Common Issues and Resources, + ACL-2007 Workshop, +June 28, 2007, Prague. +2007. + +H. Hammarström and A. Ranta. +Cardinal Numerals Revisited in GF. +//Workshop on Numerals in the World's Languages//. +Dept. of Linguistics Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, +2004. + +M. Humayoun, H. Hammarström, and A. Ranta. +Urdu Morphology, Orthography and Lexicon Extraction. +//CAASL-2: The Second Workshop on Computational Approaches to Arabic Script-based Languages//, +July 21-22, 2007, LSA 2007 Linguistic Institute, Stanford University. +2007. + +K. Johannisson. +//Formal and Informal Software Specifications.// +Phd thesis, Computer Science, University of Gothenburg, +2005. + +J. Khegai. +GF parallel resource grammars and Russian. +In proceedings of ACL2006 + (The joint conference of the International Committee on Computational + Linguistics and the Association for Computational Linguistics) (pp. 475-482), + Sydney, Australia, July 2006. + +J. Khegai. +//Language engineering in Grammatical Framework (GF)//. +Phd thesis, Computer Science, Chalmers University of Technology, +2006. + +W. Ng'ang'a. +Multilingual content development for eLearning in Africa. +eLearning Africa: 1st Pan-African Conference on ICT for Development, + Education and Training. 24-26 May 2006, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. +2006. + +N. Perera and A. Ranta. +Dialogue System Localization with the GF Resource Grammar Library. +//SPEECHGRAM 2007: ACL Workshop on Grammar-Based Approaches to Spoken Language Processing//, +June 29, 2007, Prague. +2007. + +A. Ranta. +Modular Grammar Engineering in GF. +//Research on Language and Computation//, +5:133-158, 2007. + +A. Ranta. +How predictable is Finnish morphology? An experiment on lexicon construction. +In J. Nivre, M. Dahllöf and B. Megyesi (eds), +//Resourceful Language Technology: Festschrift in Honor of Anna Sågvall Hein//, +University of Uppsala, +2008. + +A. Ranta. Grammars as Software Libraries. +To appear in +Y. Bertot, G. Huet, J-J. Lévy, and G. Plotkin (eds.), +//From Semantics to Computer Science//, +Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2009. + +A. Ranta and K. Angelov. +Implementing Controlled Languages in GF. +To appear in the proceedings of //CNL 2009//. + |