[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/farwell-1997-representing-language-specific-information-interlingua/) [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/) / On representing language-specific information in interlingua # On representing language-specific information in interlingua **Authors:** David Farwell · **Year:** 1997 · **Venue:** AMTA/SIG-IL First Workshop on Interlinguas **Link:** [aclanthology.org/1997.mtsummit-workshop.5](https://aclanthology.org/1997.mtsummit-workshop.5/) · **Licence:** [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/) — summary only [**0** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W2184732289) openalex-snapshot · 2026-10-14[AMTA/SIG-IL First Workshop on Interlinguas](https://aclanthology.org/volumes/1997.mtsummit-workshop/)[licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/) - [Publisher's page](https://aclanthology.org/1997.mtsummit-workshop.5/) - [PDF](https://aclanthology.org/1997.mtsummit-workshop.5.pdf) - [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2184732289) **Authors (1)** 1. [Farwell, David](https://openalex.org/A5051873108) [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/145961108) · h 12 · 439 citations · 66 works Citations and author metrics from openalex-snapshot (2026-10-14); authors with the same name are not always told apart. ## What it is about This is a position paper arguing that an interlingua should not carry language-specific facts about the source text. What it should carry is the communicative act: who said what to whom, and why, and how. The author goes through four cases that seem to need language-specific material. In the first, the source talks about a word, so the form of the word matters. In the second, the source relies on sounds, as in a tongue twister. In the third, the source is a pun. In the fourth, the source is a joke built on a rhyme. In each case the author argues that the translator needs the speaker's goal and the effect, not the surface form, and that a target text can reach the same goal with its own means. The paper has no experiments and no numbers; the claim rests on examples. A reply by Helmreich in the same workshop argues that some language-specific information must stay. ## Ideas - I1. Test the claim as a rule for the meta-world: a source form (a quotation, a word as a mention, a rhyme) is kept on the meta token only when keeping it changes the target output. Measure the residual with and without the rule on dev, run twice. - I2. Add a small closed set of intended effects to meta tokens (emphasis, quotation, joke, archaic register, mention). The encoder reads them as a context key. Counts can come from labelled lines of the author data. - I3. Keep the source words on each meta token, as now, and use them only as a fallback when the intent of a token is unknown. The pun and the rhyme cases show where this fallback is needed. - I4. Measure how many verses in the Bible pairs carry a mention, a quotation or a rhyme. Most probably carry none, so the claim matters more for school and story text. Say that honestly in the measure. ## For Mova The work touches the meta-world reader (`tools/translate/meta.rs`) and the encoder (`profile.rs`). The intent set in I2 is the same idea as open problem 8, style and register deltas per class, and open problem 4 for function-word features. The paper offers no measure, so the rule in I1 has to be proven on dev before it is kept. 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. ``` @inproceedings{farwell1997representing, title = {{On representing language-specific information in interlingua}}, author = {Farwell, David}, booktitle = {AMTA/SIG-IL First Workshop on Interlinguas}, year = {1997}, url = {https://aclanthology.org/1997.mtsummit-workshop.5/} } ``` - [← previous An Overview of SURGE: a Reusable Comprehensive Syntactic Realization Component](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/elhadad-1996-overview-surge-reusable-comprehensive-syntactic/) - [next → Linguistic realisation as machine translation: Comparing different MT models for AMR-to-text generation](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/ferreira-2017-linguistic-realisation-as-machine-translation/) - [↑ back to Machine translation](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/mtrans/) ## References 4 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet. 1. Shakespeare, W. 1600. Hamlet. Electronic version at: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, [http://the-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/works.html](http://the-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/works.html). [↗](http://the-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/works.html) 2. Bravo-Villasante, C. 1976. Una, Dola, Tela, Católa: el Libro del Folklore Infantil. Valladolid: Editorial Miñon. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Bravo%2DVillasante%2C+C%2E+1976%2E+Una%2C+Dola%2C+Tela%2C+Cat%C3%B3la%3A+el+Libro+del+Folklore+Infantil%2E+Valladolid%3A+Editorial+Mi%C3%B1on%2E) 3. Helmreich, S., 1997. Workshop on Interlinguas at MT-Summit ’97. Electronic communication, 1 Jul 1997 Electronic version at: [http://crl.nmsu.edu/Events/FWOI/call.html](http://crl.nmsu.edu/Events/FWOI/call.html) [↗](http://crl.nmsu.edu/Events/FWOI/call.html) 4. Helmreich, S. 1996. What Is an Interlingua and What Information should it Contain? Paper presented at the AMTA SIG-IL Pre-workshop on Interlinguas and Interlingual Approaches to Machine Translation, Montreal, Canada, October 1, 1996. Electronic version at: [http://crl.nmsu.edu/Events/FWOI/PreWorkshop/prewkshop.papers.html](http://crl.nmsu.edu/Events/FWOI/PreWorkshop/prewkshop.papers.html). [↗](http://crl.nmsu.edu/Events/FWOI/PreWorkshop/prewkshop.papers.html)