--- title: "Machine Translation, Linguistics, and — Sgall 1987" description: "The paper argues that machine translation needs a linguistic theory before it needs a large system. It sets out requirements for an interlingua, among…" authors: ["Petr Sgall", "Jarmila Panevová"] year: 1987 venue: "Third Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics" source: "https://aclanthology.org/E87-1018/" doi: "10.3115/976858.976876" licence: "CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 (ACL Anthology, before 2016)" licence_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/" summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License" canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/sgall-1987-machine-translation-linguistics-interlingua/" --- [Elamur Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/sgall-1987-machine-translation-linguistics-interlingua/) [home](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/) / [1987](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/1987/) / Machine Translation, Linguistics, and Interlingua # Machine Translation, Linguistics, and Interlingua **Authors:** Petr Sgall, Jarmila Panevová · **Year:** 1987 · **Venue:** Third Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics **Link:** [aclanthology.org/E87-1018](https://aclanthology.org/E87-1018/) · **Licence:** [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/) — summary only [**4** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W2033457767) OpenAlex · 2026-10-14 · [Third Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics](https://aclanthology.org/volumes/E87-1/) · [licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/) - [Publisher's page](https://aclanthology.org/E87-1018/) - [PDF](https://aclanthology.org/E87-1018.pdf) - [DOI 10.3115/976858.976876](https://doi.org/10.3115/976858.976876) - [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2033457767) **Authors (2)** 1. [Petr Sgall](https://openalex.org/A5108229621) [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/143828515) · h 19 · 2555 citations · 206 works 2. [Jarmila Panevová](https://openalex.org/A5001039669) [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0242-9172) · [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/1699968) · h 14 · 1303 citations · 139 works Citations and author metrics: OpenAlex, 2026-10-14; authors with the same name are not always told apart. ## What it is about The paper argues that machine translation needs a linguistic theory before it needs a large system. It sets out requirements for an interlingua, among them adequacy, relative completeness and economy, and argues that an interlingua should be built on a dependency-based description of sentence meaning. Topic and focus, the way a sentence is organised for what the speaker wants to say first, are part of that meaning and must be represented. The authors also argue that the interlingua should be developed step by step with knowledge bases and lexical networks, since the mapping between languages does not match one to one. The text file is a poor scan: its two-column layout and the abstract are badly scrambled, so only fragments can be read. The summary above is taken from the legible parts, and the paper's own examples are not available here. ## Ideas - I1. Add topic and focus to meta tokens as a feature, set by the reader from word order and the tree, and let the linearizer use it. Measure word-order errors split by the flag, run twice. - I2. Report economy next to accuracy: the number of meta concepts per sentence and the lexicon size after each round. Keep a lexicon merge only when accuracy and economy both do not get worse. - I3. Use a small set of deep relations (agent, patient, place, time, and so on) as the meta relations, instead of raw UD labels, and check whether the frames built from them give fewer attachment errors. ## For Mova The places are `tools/translate/meta.rs` (the meta token features), `en/src/lin.rs` (the linearizer, which would use the topic and focus flag) and `tools/roundtrip` (the frames). I1 touches open problem 4 (boundaries and function features) and I3 touches open problem 1 (coarse relations). The paper gives no measure, so each idea needs one. Topics: [Machine translation](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/machine-translation/) ## Cite The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.3115/976858.976876](https://doi.org/10.3115/976858.976876) ```bibtex @inproceedings{sgall1987machine, title = {{Machine Translation, Linguistics, and Interlingua}}, author = {Sgall, Petr and Panevová, Jarmila}, booktitle = {Third Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics}, year = {1987}, doi = {10.3115/976858.976876}, url = {https://doi.org/10.3115/976858.976876} } ``` - [← previous Characterizing Structural Descriptions Produced by Various Grammatical Formalisms](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/shanker-1987-characterizing-structural-descriptions-produced-various/) - [next → Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/brown-1987-politeness-some-universals-language-usage/) - [↑ back to papers of 1987](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/1987/) ## References 11 references, 1 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet. 1. Boitet Ch. and N. Nedobejkine (1981), Recent developments in Russian-French machine translation at Grenoble, Linguistics 19, 199-271 [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Boitet+Ch%2E+and+N%2E+Nedobejkine+%281981%29%2C+Recent+developments+in+Russian%2DFrench+machine+translation+at+Grenoble%2C+Linguistics+19%2C+199%2D271) 2. Johnson R., King M. and L.des Tombe (1985), EUROTRA~ A multilingual system under development, Computational Linguistics ii, 155-169 [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Johnson+R%2E%2C+King+M%2E+and+L%2Edes+Tombe+%281985%29%2C+EUROTRA%7E+A+multilingual+system+under+development%2C+Computational+Linguistics+ii%2C+155%2D169) 3. Kirschner Z. ~1982), A dependency-based analysis of English for the purpose of Machine Translation, Explizite Beschreibung der Sprache und automatische Text-bearbeitung IX, Prague Kirschner Z. [1984), On a dependency analysis of English for machine translation. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Kirschner+Z%2E+%7E1982%29%2C+A+dependency%2Dbased+analysis+of+English+for+the+purpose+of+Machine+Translation%2C+Explizite+Beschreibung+der+Sprache+und+automatische+Text%2Dbearbeitung+IX%2C+Prague+Kirschner+Z%2E+%5B1984%29%2C) 4. Zn Contributions to Functional Syntax, Semantics and Language Comprehension, ed. by P.Sgall, Prague - Amsterdam, 335-358 Mel'~uk I. [1962), K voprosu o "grammati-~eskom" v jazyke-posrednike. In: Ma~in-nyj perevod i prikladnaja lingvistika 4, Moscow, 25-45 [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Zn+Contributions+to+Functional+Syntax%2C+Semantics+and+Language+Comprehension%2C+ed%2E+by+P%2ESgall%2C+Prague+%2D+Amsterdam%2C+335%2D358+Mel%27%7Euk+I%2E+%5B1962%29%2C+K+voprosu+o+%22grammati%2D%7Eeskom%22+v+jazyke%2Dposrednike%2E+In%3A+Ma%7Ein) 5. Nagao M., Tsujii J. and J.Nakamura (1985), The Japanese government project for Machine Translation, Computational Linguistics ll, 91-110 [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Nagao+M%2E%2C+Tsujii+J%2E+and+J%2ENakamura+%281985%29%2C+The+Japanese+government+project+for+Machine+Translation%2C+Computational+Linguistics+ll%2C+91%2D110) 6. Pl~tek M., Sgall J. and P.Sgall (1984), A dependency base for a linguistic description. In: Contributions to Functional Syntax, Semantics, and Language Comprehension, ed.by P.Sgall, Prague - Amsterdam, 63-98 [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Pl%7Etek+M%2E%2C+Sgall+J%2E+and+P%2ESgall+%281984%29%2C+A+dependency+base+for+a+linguistic+description%2E+In%3A+Contributions+to+Functional+Syntax%2C+Semantics%2C+and+Language+Comprehension%2C+ed%2Eby+P%2ESgall%2C+Prague+%2D+Amsterdam) 7. Robinson J. ~1970), Dependency structures and transformational rules, Language 46, 259-285 [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Robinson+J%2E+%7E1970%29%2C+Dependency+structures+and+transformational+rules%2C+Language+46%2C+259%2D285) 8. Sgall P. ~1963), The intermediate language in Machine Translation and the theory of grammar. In: American Documentation Institute, 26th Annual Meeting, Chicago, Ill., 41-42 [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Sgall+P%2E+%7E1963%29%2C+The+intermediate+language+in+Machine+Translation+and+the+theory+of+grammar%2E+In%3A+American+Documentation+Institute%2C+26th+Annual+Meeting%2C+Chicago%2C+Ill%2E%2C+41%2D42) 9. Sgall P., Haji~ov~ E. and J.Panevov~ ~1986), The Meaning of the Sentence i n Its Semantic and Pragmatic Aspects, Prague - Dordrecht, Holland Slocum J. (1985), A survey of Machine Translation: its history, current status, and future prospects, Computational Linguistics ll, 1-17 [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Sgall+P%2E%2C+Haji%7Eov%7E+E%2E+and+J%2EPanevov%7E+%7E1986%29%2C+The+Meaning+of+the+Sentence+i+n+Its+Semantic+and+Pragmatic+Aspects%2C+Prague+%2D+Dordrecht%2C+Holland+Slocum+J%2E+%281985%29%2C+A+survey+of+Machine+Translation%3A+its+hist) [our card](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/slocum-1985-survey-machine-translation-its-history/) 10. Vauquois B. (1962), Langages artificiels, syst~mes formels et Traduction Automatique. In: Cours l'Et4 de I'OTAN, ed. by A.Ghizetti, Oxford, 1966, 211-236 [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Vauquois+B%2E+%281962%29%2C+Langages+artificiels%2C+syst%7Emes+formels+et+Traduction+Automatique%2E+In%3A+Cours+l%27Et4+de+I%27OTAN%2C+ed%2E+by+A%2EGhizetti%2C+Oxford%2C+1966%2C+211%2D236) 11. Vauquois B. (1975), La traduction automatique Grenoble. Documents de linguist~que quantitative 24, Paris Vauquois B. and Ch.Boitet (1985), Automated translation at Grenoble University, Computational Linguistics ll, 18-36 [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Vauquois+B%2E+%281975%29%2C+La+traduction+automatique+Grenoble%2E+Documents+de+linguist%7Eque+quantitative+24%2C+Paris+Vauquois+B%2E+and+Ch%2EBoitet+%281985%29%2C+Automated+translation+at+Grenoble+University%2C+Computational+L)