Towards

a Language-Independent

Universal Digital Library

Sameh Alansary Magdy Nagi Noha Adly sameh.alansary@bibalex.org magdy.nagi@bibalex.org noha.adly@bibalex.org

Bibliotheca Alexandrina

The Second International Conference on Universal Digital Libraries (ICUDL 2006) 17-19-2006 November, Alexandria, Egypt

Introduction

• IT made the full text libraries’ assets available digitally (Independent of time, place and copy).

UDL

• Digitization only does not lead to “universality” in its optimum sense.

• A new dimension of universality should be added: Independency of Language

- Nasser Digital Library.

e.g. - Million Book Project.

Language-dependency blocks information dissemination

• Language dependency holds language barriers.

• If it is always possible for everyone to read in everyone’s mother tongue, this will help in:

• 80% of books and e-materials is written in English and 20% is written in other languages.

- Dissemination of knowledge. - Preservation of nationality and identity. - Preventing cultural hegemony.

Approaches:

1- Direct translation approach.2- Transfer approach.

3- Interlingual approach.

• Translation systems have been introduced (NLP):

Attempts to break language barriers

Examples of Systems:

- Google translation: http://www.google.ch/language_tools

- Fujitsu systems:

http://www.fujitsu.com/global/services/translation

Drawback of MT systems

1- The quality of results is often inadequate.

2- Work for a limited number of language combinations.

3- Hold an overload on the network:

To translate from and to only 10 languages, 10 grammars, 10 lexicons, 90 translation dictionaries and 90 sets of translation rules will be needed, plus the need for semantic processing in each language.

Towards a universal system for knowledge

representation

• How can we represent natural language materials in a language independent format? (a format required)

• What is the system suitable for representing knowledge in the format selected? (a system required)

• How is this system going to work?

Some questions may bear in mind:

1- The content of the original material (meaning) must not be lost.

2- This universal format should be understandable by various platforms over the network.

3- This universal format should be decodable to any natural language.

Requirements for a universal representation of knowledge:

UNL System

• The Universal Networking Language (UNL) is an artificial language for computers to express information and

knowledge that can be expressed in natural language.

What is UNL? (1)

• Started in 1996, as an initiative of the UNU/IAS in Japan

• R&D in UNL

- Development on 15 languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian,

Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Swahili.

- Transferred to the UNDL Foundation in 2001.

What is UNL? (2)

• It expresses information or knowledge of natural language (NL) in the form of semantic network with hyper-node.

The boy who works here went to school

{UNL}agt(go(icl>move).@entry.@past, :01)plt(go(icl>occur).@entry.@past, school(icl>institution))agt:01(work(icl>do), boy(icl>person.@entry))plc:01(work(icl>do),here){/UNL}

UNL expression:

Example:

The boy who works here went to schoolThe boy who works here went to school

plt

agt

school(icl>institution)

go(icl>move)@ entry @ past

boy(icl>person)@ entry

work(icl>do)

hereagt

plc

:01

UNL-hyper graph

The UNL System

System Formalism

Components Knowledge representation

The UNL-system componentsUNL LANGUAGE SERVER

Enconverter = Deconverter(EnCO) (EnCO)

Language Server

UNL <-> Hindi

Internet

UNL Proxy

Language Server UNL <- >Japanese

Language ServerUNL <- >Chinese

DeCO

UNL documentLanguage Server

UNL <-> Arabic

Language Server

UNL <-> Spanish

USER

EnCO

DeCOEnCOLanguage Server UNL <- > English

DeCOEnCODeCOEnCO

UNL Editor

1 2 3

UNL Viewer

UNL Language

Server

Web Server with UNL document

UNL

NL

A) Language servers:A) Language servers:

Natural Language

UNL

EnConverter

DeConverter

UNL-language Dictionary

Knowledge Base

ConcurrenceDictionary

GenerationRules

AnalysisRules

B) UNL Tools:

1- UNL viewer.

2- UNL editor.

3- UNL verifier.

C) UNL Proxy Server:

• Searches for UNL at the web, send it to the language Searches for UNL at the web, send it to the language server and displays it on the user’s chosen language.server and displays it on the user’s chosen language.

NaturalLanguage

texts

Annotation EditorAnnotated

NaturalLanguage

texts

Universal Parser

UNL Verifier

UNLKB

Web serverHTML+XML

UWDictionary

GrammaticalRules

WordDictionary

Co-OccurrenceDictionary

EnConverterUNL

Document

UNLDocumentDeConverter

NaturalLanguage

texts

Mechanism of conversion between NL and UNL

UNL as a formal language: How does it represent knowledge?

1- Universal words (UW): to represent concepts.

Example: boy(icl>person)

hear(icl>perceive(agt>person,obj>thing))

2- relations: 38 semantic relations can be distinguished.

Example: agt, aoj, bas, con, coo, dur, … etc.

3- Attributes: to express subjectivity of the speaker.

Example: @past, @emphasis, @def, @not, … etc.

4- Knowledge base (UNLKB).

• Define the Universal Word.

• Provide linguistic knowledge of concepts

Ibrahim Shihata UNL Arabic Center (ISUAC)

• It is established at Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

• It is responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining the various components of the Arabic language server.

• The Arabic language server will be capable of:

- Enconverting the Arabic texts to the universal format.

- Deconverting the universal materials produce by other language centers to Arabic.

The Achievements of the ISUAC

A) Arabic language resources and tools.

B) Developing tools.

C) Arabic language-based universal materials.

1- The Arabic Dictionary: It is a repository of information for all UNL Arabic grammars.

A) Arabic language resources and tools:

DictionaryUniversal words (Vocabulary of UNL)

Head Words (Vocabulary of Arabic)

Linguistics Features (Linguistic info about HWs)

2- Arabic EnConversion Rules:

• Arabic EnConversion Rules are able to:

1- Perform morphological analysis to extract concepts the Arabic words refer to.

2- Assign exact semantic relation between concepts as being expressed in the context of the Arabic sentence.

• It is responsible for Enconverting Arabic to UNL.

• Simulation of how Enconverter works

في الناصر عبد جمال باكوس 18في 1918يناير 15ولد حي قنوات شارع

.باإلسكندرية/ / / / في / / الناصر عبد جمال / /15ولد / /1918يناير/ /18في/ / / / / / / / / / إسكندرية/ / بال باكوس حي قنوات شارع /.

delete

delete

January

Kanawat(iof>street)Alexandria(iof>city)

15

plc

tim

obj

191818

territory(icl>region)

tim

modmod

mod

born(obj>thing).@past

plc

mod

plc

street(icl>road)Gamal

Abdelnaser(iof>person)Bakous(iof>place)

January

Bakous(icl>place)

1918

Gamal Abdelnaser(iof>person)

@topic

15

territory(icl>region)

Kanawat(iof>street)18

Alexandria(iof>city)

objtim

mod

tim

born(obj>thing)@past

plc

street(icl>road)

modmod

plcplc

mod

UNL Network:

3- Arabic DeConversion Rules:

• It is responsible for generating Arabic sentences out of UNL networks.

• Arabic DeConversion Rules are able to:

1- Select Arabic words that represent universal concepts.

2- Arrange the concepts of the UNL network in a syntactically well-formed sentence.

• Simulation of how the Deconverter works

outcome(icl>resul).@entry

description(icl>action)Egypt

collaboration(icl>action)

scientist(icl>scholar) .@entrry

scholar(icl>person)

More (aoj>thing)

prominent(aoj>thing)

بونابرت

صاحب

مرموق

عالم

باحث

150 مص1798أكثرر

تعاون

محصل

وصف

accompany(agt>thing,obj>thing)

150

1798

Bonaparte(iof>person)

Egypt

الذيومنةن

وا

obj

aoj

modagt

and

obj

bas

tim

gol

agt

aoj

aoj

مصر

من أكثر تعاون محصلة مصر بونابرت 150وصف صاحبوا الذين مرموق عالم و باحثمصر 1789في إلى

إلفيى

4- A Corpus for Modern Standard Arabic:

• A representative sample (100 Millions) that reflects the empirical usage of Modern Standard Arabic.

• It plays a principle role in enhancing and updating both EnConversion and DeConversion rules.

B) Developing tools:1- Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

2- Corpus analysis software (GATE)

C) Arabic language-based universal materials.

Library of Alexandria: the Fourth Pyramid.

Abou Simple: The Temple of the Sun.

Nasser Digital Library

The Encyclopaedia of Famous Persons

An example of an Arabic Sentence in An example of an Arabic Sentence in UNL (universal) formatUNL (universal) format

عام في ولد الذي حسين الناصر لعبد األكبر االبن الناصر عبد جمال وكانولكنه 1888 الفالحين، من أسرة في مصر صعيد في مر بني قرية في

البريد مصلحة في بوظيفة يلتحق بأن له سمح التعليم من قدر على حصلالحياة ضرورات لسداد بصعوبة يكفي مرتبه وكان {unl}.باإلسكندرية،

aoj(son(icl>person):0I.@def.@entry, Gamal Abdel Nasser(iof>person):00)mod(son(icl>person):0I.@def.@entry, Abd El-Naser Hosen(iof>person):23.@topic)aoj(old(aoj>thing):1J, son(icl>person):0I.@def)man(old(aoj>thing):1J, most(icl>how):15)obj(born(obj>thing):31.@past, Abd El-Naser Hossain(iof>person):23.@topic)and(get(agt>thing,obj>thing):6S.@past.@contrast, born(obj>thing):31.@past)scn(born(obj>thing):31.@past, family(icl>group):5Q)plc(born(obj>thing):31.@past, village(icl>region):4D)tim(born(obj>thing):31.@past, year(icl>period):3M)mod(year(icl>period):3M, 1888:41)plc(village(icl>region):4D, upper Egypt(iof>place):58)mod(village(icl>region):4D, Bani Morr(iof>village):4S)mod(family(icl>group):5Q, farmer(icl>person):65.@pl.@def)obj(get(agt>thing,obj>thing):6S.@past.@contrast, degree(icl>abstract thing):7N)agt(allow(agt>thing,gol>thing,obj>thing):8M.@past, degree(icl>abstract thing):7N)mod(degree(icl>abstract thing):7N, education(icl>activity):82.@def)gol(allow(agt>thing,gol>thing,obj>thing):8M.@past, join(agt>person,obj>thing):9I.@present)obj(allow(agt>thing,gol>thing,obj>thing):8M.@past, his(pos>he):97)and(suffice(aoj>thing,obj>thing):CM.@present, join(agt>person,obj>thing):9I.@present)obj(join(agt>person,obj>thing):9I.@present, job(icl>work):A7)plc(job(icl>work):A7, postal service{icl>service ):AN)plc(postal service{icl>service ):AN, Alexandria(iof>city):BB)aoj(suffice(aoj>thing,obj>thing):CM.@present, salary(icl>money):BV)mod(salary(icl>money):BV, his(pos>he):CB)obj(suffice(aoj>thing,obj>thing):CM.@present, satisfy(agt>thing,obj>thing):DQ)man(suffice(aoj>thing,obj>thing):CM.@present, hardly:DA)obj(satisfy(agt>thing,obj>thing):DQ, demand(icl>wants):E6.@pl.@def) mod(demand(icl>wants):E6.@pl.@def, life(icl>activity):EV.@def){/unl}

Language -Independent Format

Is it going to work this way?!!Is it going to work this way?!!

• Are there language servers ready to work?

• Is the Arabic language server able to enconvert Arabic texts to universal format?

• Is it also able to deconvert the universal materials back to Arabic?

What about Arabic??

• Are the universal materials deconvertable to other languages?

A proof of the conceptA proof of the concept

UNL-based Library Information UNL-based Library Information System (UNL-LIS)System (UNL-LIS)

• It is a system to search in a digital library catalogs.

• It is built on the UNL KI, therefore:uilt on the UNL KI, therefore:

- Query is in Natural Language (two languages)- Query is in Natural Language (two languages)

-Answer is also in Natural Language (7 languages)Answer is also in Natural Language (7 languages)

Question in NL

Answer in UNL

Question in UNL

UNL LIS Core Architecture UNL LIS Core Architecture

LIS

MARC21Records

MARC21ImportingProcess

UNL KB

Encyclopedia

ConceptsDefinitions

UserQuestion

LanguageServer

Enco rules+

DicEnconversionProcess

QueryEngine

DeconversionProcess

Answer in NL

LanguageServer

Deco rules+

Dic

Demo: Screen Shots

1. Enter query

2. Press to search Encyclopedia

4. View results here (Naguib Mahfouz). Click for more information.

3. Specify result's language (Arabic)

5. A link to the UNL document

{unl} agt(begin(agt>thing,obj>action):12.@past.@entry, Naguib Mahfouz(iof>person):0N.@topic) obj(begin(agt>thing,obj>action):12.@past.@entry, writing(icl>action):18) tim(begin(agt>thing,obj>action):12.@past.@entry, year old:1S.@past) aoj(year old:1S.@past, Naguib Mahfouz(iof>person):0N.@topic) qua(year old:1S.@past, 17) plc(born(aoj>thing):00, Cairo(iof>city):08) aoj(born(aoj>thing):00, Naguib Mahfouz(iof>person):0N.@topic) tim(born(aoj>thing):00, 1911:0H) {/unl} [/S] ;;Time 1.4 Sec ;;Done!

{unl} and(write(agt>thing,obj>thing):1K.@past.@entry, publish(agt>thing,obj>thing):0K.@past) obj(write(agt>thing,obj>thing):1K.@past.@entry, novel(icl>tale):1B.@pl.@topic) tim(write(agt>thing,obj>thing):1K.@past.@entry, before(icl>how(obj>thing)):1S) aoj(more(icl>additional):1A, novel(icl>tale):1B.@pl.@topic) qua(novel(icl>tale):1B.@pl.@topic, 10:16) [/S]

Conclusion

ConclusionConclusion

• Independency of language is a very important dimension that should be considered in storing and retrieving texts for a UDL

• The UNL system is a promising formalism for representing knowledge in a universal format.

• The ISAUC less than 2 years old, however, it is one of the very active language centres in designing and implementing UNL materials and tools.

• The UNL LIS has proved feasibility of the concept of language independency.

Thank YouThank You

Any question is Any question is welcomed.welcomed.