[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/dorr-1992-parameterization-interlingua-machine-translation/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [docs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/) / [papers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/) / [Machine translation](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/mtrans/) / Parameterization of the Interlingua in Machine Translation # Parameterization of the Interlingua in Machine Translation **Authors:** [Bonnie Dorr](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/authors/bonnie-dorr/) · **Year:** 1992 · **Venue:** COLING 1992, Volume 2: The 14th International Conference on Computational Linguistics **Link:** [aclanthology.org/C92-2094](https://aclanthology.org/C92-2094/) · **Licence:** [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/) — summary only [**12** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W2158228049) openalex · 2026-10-19[COLING 1992 Volume 2: The 14th International Conference on Computational Linguistics](https://aclanthology.org/volumes/C92-2/)[licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/) - [Publisher's page](https://aclanthology.org/C92-2094/) - [PDF](https://aclanthology.org/C92-2094.pdf) - [DOI 10.3115/992133.992167](https://doi.org/10.3115/992133.992167) - [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2158228049) **Authors (1)** 1. [Dorr, Bonnie](https://openalex.org/A5054060679) [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4356-5813) · [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/1752326) · h 39 · 8547 citations · 432 works Citations and author metrics from openalex (2026-10-19); authors with the same name are not always told apart. ## What it is about The UNITRAN system is an interlingual translator for English, Spanish and German. Its pivot is a lexical conceptual structure shared by all three languages. Differences between languages are not coded as separate processors. They are settings of a few parameters attached to universal principles: for example whether the subject must be overt (the null-subject setting), and where adjuncts and heads sit. The syntactic level and the lexical-semantic level each have their own parameters. The paper catalogues the syntactic divergences that these settings produce among the three languages, and states that adding a language means setting its parameters rather than writing a new processor. There are no measured results; the evidence is a catalogue of examples and a description of the modules. ## Ideas - I1. Make the encoder's per-language settings an explicit parameter table in `profile.rs`: a fixed enum of settings such as adjunct side and head direction, each value counted from the aligned data and not set by hand. Keep the table in a BTreeMap so that its order is deterministic. - I2. Split the residual by parameter. Ask how much of the encoder's remaining error is explained by word order alone and how much by lexical choice. The order part is what a parameter should absorb, so a parameter that does not reduce it is not earning its place. - I3. Keep word-order settings in `en/src/lin.rs`, as side tables that are learned per target language, and leave the Markov chains over word classes as they are. Test each side table with a shuffled-order control that must come out worse. ## For Mova The paper is the origin of the idea that a meta-world plus a small set of settings can serve several languages. For Mova that is the division between `tools/translate/src/profile.rs` (the standard encoder) and the author delta. The useful part for now is the measure: a residual split by order and by lexis, which `measure.rs` can already produce. The paper's rule-free parameters should be learned, not copied. Topics: [Machine translation](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/topics/machine-translation/) ## Cite The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.3115/992133.992167](https://doi.org/10.3115/992133.992167) ``` @inproceedings{dorr1992parameterization, title = {{Parameterization of the Interlingua in Machine Translation}}, author = {Dorr, Bonnie}, booktitle = {COLING 1992 Volume 2: The 14th International Conference on Computational Linguistics}, year = {1992}, doi = {10.3115/992133.992167}, url = {https://doi.org/10.3115/992133.992167} } ``` - [← previous Solving Thematic Divergences in Machine Translation](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/dorr-1990-solving-thematic-divergences-machine-translation/) - [next → Machine Translation Divergences: A Formal Description and Proposed Solution](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/dorr-1994-machine-translation-divergences-formal-description/) - [↑ back to Machine translation](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/mtrans/) ## References 16 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet. 1. Chomeky, Noam A. (1981) Lectures an Government and Binding, Forts Publieations~ Dordrecht. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Chomeky%2C+Noam+A%2E+%281981%29+Lectures+an+Government+and+Binding%2C+Forts+Publieations%7E+Dordrecht%2E) 2. Choranky, Noam A. (1982) ~Some Concepts and Consequences of the Theory of Government and Binding," MIT PresL Dorr, Bonnie J. (1987) "UNITRAN: A Principle-Ba~d App~ach to Machine Translation," AI Technical Report 1000, MMter of Science thesis, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Mauachusetts Institute of Technology. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Choranky%2C+Noam+A%2E+%281982%29+%7ESome+Concepts+and+Consequences+of+the+Theory+of+Government+and+Binding%2C%22+MIT+PresL+Dorr%2C+Bonnie+J%2E+%281987%29+%22UNITRAN%3A+A+Principle%2DBa%7Ed+App%7Each+to+Machine+Translation%2C%22+AI+Techn) 3. Dorr, Bonnie J. (1990a) "Solving Thematic Divergences in Machine Tranalationp" Proceedings of the £8th Annual Conference of the Association for Computational Linguistics, Univerlity of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 127-134. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Dorr%2C+Bonnie+J%2E+%281990a%29+%22Solving+Thematic+Divergences+in+Machine+Tranalationp%22+Proceedings+of+the+%C2%A38th+Annual+Conference+of+the+Association+for+Computational+Linguistics%2C+Univerlity+of+Pittsburgh%2C+Pit) 4. Dart, Bonnie J. (1990b) "A Croda-Linguistic Approach to Machine Translation," Proceedings o] the Third International Conference on Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Ma. chine Translation of Natural Languages, Linguistics Research Center, The Univerlity of Texai, Austin, TX, 13-32. 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