Machine Translation: past, present, future
(Ellis Horwood Series in Computers and their Applications) 382 pp.
Chichester (UK): Ellis Horwood, 1986. (ISBN: 0-85312-788-3)
New York: Halsted Press, 1986. (ISBN: 0-470-20313-7)
===============
Note to readers (2003)
Since this book, first published in 1986, is still the most comprehensive history of machine translation (up to 1985), I am making the whole text available for researchers. Copyright remains with me and the publishers (Ellis Horwood). Publication and multiple-copy reproduction (in any form and for any purpose) of the whole or any part of the text is forbidden, except after prior permission from me and the publishers. However, single copies of sections or chapters may be made by individuals for private personal use only.
The text has not been changed, except for spelling corrections. However, references have been added in footnotes to more recent articles which update, expand (and occasionally correct) parts of the content.
================
Contents
1
General introduction [PDF, 85KB]2
Precursors and pioneers [PDF, 156KB]2.1 Before the computer
2.2 The first beginnings (1946-1949)
2.3 Weaver’s memorandum (1949)
2.4 From Weaver to the first MT conference (1949-1952)
2.5 From the MIT conference to the Georgetown-IBM demonstration (1952-1954)
2.6 From the Georgetown-IBM experiment to the first international conference (1954-1956)
3
Problems, methods and strategies [PDF, 181KB]3.1 Mechanical dictionaries
3.2 Polysemy and semantics
3.3 Morphological analysis
3.4 Syntactic analysis
3.5 Formal syntax and transformational grammar
3.6 Syntactic ambiguity and discourse relations
3.7 Sentences and texts
3.8 Transfer and synthesis
3.9 Systemn designs and strategies
3.10 Perspectives and influences
3.11 MT research in the period 1956-1966
4
Groups and projects in the United States (1950-1966) [PDF, 273KB]4.1 University of Washington (1949-1962)
4.2 IBM Research Center (1958-1966)
4.3 Georgetown University (1952-1963)
4.4 RAND Corporation (1950-1960)
4.5 University of Michigan (1955-1962)
4.6 Ramo-Wooldridge and Bunker-Ramo (1958-1967)
4.7 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1953-1965)
4.8 National Bureau of Standards (1959-1963)
4.9 Harvard University (1954-1964)
4.10 University of California, Berkeley (1958-1964)
4.11 University of Texas, Linguistics Research Center (1958-1968)
4.12 Wayne State University (1958-1972)
4.13 Other United States groups (1955-1965)
5
Groups and projects in the United Kingdom and Western Europe (1954-1966) [PDF, 177KB]5.1 Birkbeck College, London (1955-1959)
5.2 Cambridge Language Research Unit (1956-1967)
5.3 University of Milan (1959-1966)
5.4 National Physical Laboratory, Teddington (1959-1966)
5.5 Research in France (1959-1966)
5.6 Research in Belgium (1961-1964)
5.7 Research in West Germany (1963-1968)
5.8 Other West European groups
6
Groups and projects in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (1955-1967) [PDF, 147KB]6.1 Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Technology
6.2 Steklov Mathematical Institute
6.3 Institute of Linguistics, Moscow
6.4 Leningrad University
6.5 First Moscow State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages
6.6 All-Union Institute of Scientific and Technical Information
6.7 Other Soviet groups
6.8 Summary of the USSR scene (1955-1966)
6.9 Research in Eastern Europe (1957-1966)
6.10 Charles University, Prague, Czechoslovakia
6.11 Hungarian Academy of Sciences
6.12 Projects in Yugoslavia, Poland, and Rumania
6.13 Research in East Germany
7
Groups and projects in Japan, China, and Mexico (1956-1966) [PDF, 89KB]7.1 Projects in Japan
7.2 Research in China
7.3 National University of Mexico
8
Expectations and criticisms: the decade from 1956 to 1966. [PDF, 156KB]8.1 Period of optimism
8.2 Variety of approaches and methods
8.3 Doubts and criticisms, Bar-Hillel’s report
8.4 The state of the art in 1960, and new directions
8.5 Official support for US research
8.6 National and international conferences
8.7 Taube’s Computers and Common Sense
8.8 Operational systems and the ‘semantic barrier’
8.9 The ALPAC report
8.10 Expenditure on MT research
8.11 The situation in 1966
9
Strategies and methods since the mid-1960s. [PDF, 143KB]9.1 After ALPAC
9.2 Direct translation systems
9.3 Interlingual systems
9.4 Transfer systems
9.5 Semantics-based systems
9.6 Interactive and restricted language systems
9.7 The developments after the mid-1970s
9.8 Computational and linguistic techniques and issues
9.9 Separation of linguistic data and algorithms
9.10 Modularity
9.11 Transformational parsing
9.12 Filtering
9.13 Augmented transition network (ATN) parsing
9.14 Tree transducers
9.15 Charts
9.16 Semantic analysis
9.17 Semantic parsing
9.18 Outline of project descriptions and general sources
10
Interlingual systems, 1965-1975. [PDF, 147KB]10.1 Centre d’Etudes pour la Traduction Automatique (CETA), University of Grenoble (1961-1971)
10.2 Mel’chuk’s ‘meaning-text’ model (1965-1976)
10.3 Linguistics Research Center (LRC), University of Texas (1970-1975)
10.4 Forschungsgruppe LIMAS, Bonn (1964-1976)
11
Other indirect systems, 1965-1975. [PDF, 116KB]11.1 EURATOM, Ispra, Italy (1967-1975)
11.2 University of California, Berkeley (1967-1975)
11.3 Other US projects
11.4 University of Münster (1966-1969)
11.5 Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1964-1976)
11.6 Projects and research in the Soviet Union (1966-1976)
12
Direct translation systems since 1965. [PDF, 138KB]12.1 Systran system of Latsec Inc./World Translation Center (1964- )
12.2 Logos Development Corporation (1969-1978)
12.3 Xonics Corporation (1970-1976)
12.4 Pan American Health Organization (1976- )
12.5 University of Saskatchewan (1965-1972)
12.6 Other direct translation systems
13
Transfer systems since 1970 [PDF, 229KB]13.1 University of Montreal, TAUM (1965-1981)
13.1.1 System design
13.1.2 The METEO system
13.1.3 The AVIATION system
13.2 University of the Saar, SUSY (1967- )
13.3 Groupe d’Etudes pour la Traduction Automatique (GETA), University of Grenoble (1971- )
13.4 Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, METAL (1978- )
13.5 Charles University, Prague (1976- )
13.6 Logos Corporation (1982- )
14
Projects and systems at the Commission of the European Communities (1976- ) [PDF, 139KB]14.1 Systran
14.2 Eurotra
15
Artificial Intelligence systems (1970- ) [PDF, 127KB]15.1 Stanford University (1970-1974)
15.2 Yale University (1978-1982)
15.3 Other AI approaches
15.4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1971-1974)
15.5 University of Essex and New Mexico State University (1983- )
15.6 Georgia Institute of Technology (1982- )
15.7 Colgate University (1983- )
15.8 University of Massachusetts at Amherst
15.9 The future relevance of AI approaches in MT
16
Other interlingual systems since 1975 [PDF, 106KB]16.1 University of Heidelberg (1973- )
16.2 Philips Research Laboratory, Eindhoven (1980- )
16.3 Buro voor Systeemontwikkeling, Utrecht (1979- )
17
Interactive and human-aided systems [PDF, 146KB]17.1 Pre-edited input
17.2 Restricted language systems
17.3 Institut Textile de France, TITUS system (1970- )
17.4 SMART AI Inc. (1977- )
17.5 Other ‘restricted’ systems
17.6 Automated dictionaries and term banks
17.7 Interactive systems
17.8 RAND Corporation, the MIND system
17.9 Chinese University of Hong Kong (1972- )
17.10 Brigham Young University (1970-1979)
17.11 Automated Language Processing System, ALPS (1980- )
17.12 Weidner Communications Corporation (1977- )
17.13 Other interactive systems
18
Projects and systems in the Soviet Union and Japan (1974- ) [PDF, 145KB]18.1 The Soviet research (1974- )
18.2 Leningrad, Group for Speech Statistics
18.3 Moscow Centre for Translation
18.4 The AMPAR system
18.5 The NERPA system
18.6 The FRAP system
18.7 Other Soviet systems
18.8 Research in Japan (1975- )
18.9 University of Osaka Prefecture
18.10 Hitachi
18.11 Fujitsu
18.12 Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
18.13 Kyoto University
18.14 Other Japanese systems
19
Present developments and some future prospects [PDF, 135KB]19.1 The general scene in the 1980s
19.2 Linguistic problems and methods
19.3 Artificial Intelligence and MT
19.4 MT quality and revision
19.5 Future prospects
19.6 Generations and periods
Chronological table of main projects and systems [HTML]
Bibliography [PDF, 248KB]
Index