The Re-use of Linguistic Resources across Languages in Multilingual Generation Components

John A. Bateman, Christian Matthiessen, Keizo Nanri, Licheng Zeng

Abstract: An approach to generation system design is described which supports maximal expression of commonalities across languages. Within this approach it becomes natural to represent inherently multilingual grammars and semantics. The approach rests on the linguistic notion of functional similarity and difference: by capturing the functions languages need to perform, we achieve a level of linguistic description which carries across languages far more effectively than accounts that are structurally based. We demonstrate the general principles, implementation, and benefits of the approach with respect to three unrelated languages: English, Chinese, and Japanese.