MT Evaluation in the Context of Language Complexity

The paper focuses on investigating the impact of artificial agent (machine translator) on human agent (posteditor) using a proposed methodology, which is based on language complexity measures, POS tags, frequent tagsets, association rules, and their summarization. We examine this impact from the point of view of language complexity in terms of word and sentence structure. By the proposed methodology, we analyzed 24 733 tags of English to Slovak translations of technical texts, corresponding to the output of two MT systems (Google Translate and the European Commission’s MT tool). We used both manual (adequacy and fluency) and semiautomatic (HTER metric) MT evaluation measures as the criteria for validity. We show that the proposed methodology is valid based on the evaluation of frequent tagsets and rules of MT outputs produced by Google Translate or of the European Commission’s MT tool, and both postedited MT (PEMT) outputs using baseline methods. Our results have also shown that PEMT output produced by Google Translate is characterized by more frequent tagsets such as verbs in the infinitive with modal verbs compared to its MT output, which is characterized by masculine, inanimate nouns in locative of singular. In the MT output, produced by the European Commission’s MT tool, the most frequent tagset was verbs in the infinitive compared to its postedited MT output, where verbs in imperative and the second person of plural occurred. These findings are also obtained from the use of the proposed methodology for MT evaluation. The contribution of the proposed methodology is an identification of systematic not random errors. Additionally, the study can also serve as information for optimizing the translation process using postediting.

EFL Reading Fluency Development and Its Effects

<p>Speed reading courses have been considered an effective method to improve learners' reading rate. Research in this area has concentrated on the effect of a speed reading course on students' speed improvement, but not on how to structure the course or the effects of speed improvement on other aspects of language and other types of reading. This thesis, in the first place, deals with the issue of scheduling a speed reading course, in terms of lesson frequency and course length, to achieve the best effect. The thesis also seeks to determine if speed development in the course leads to rate improvement in reading texts outside the course. Finally, the thesis looks at the effects of speed improvement on oral reading rate, language accuracy and language complexity. In the first of two experiments, a speed reading course was delivered to the four experimental groups, who followed the course on different scheduling. Four scoring methods were used to measure the participants' speed improvement and it was found that one group made smaller increases than the others in all scoring methods. A pre-test and a post-test for reading other types of texts were administered and the speeds on these texts by the four treatment groups were compared with those by the control group. The results demonstrated that all but one group from the treatment category outperformed the control group. The second experiment was both a replication of the first experiment in order to confirm the reliability of the first experiment's results and an expansion from the first experiment to explore other issues. It involved two control groups, one of which followed the usual English program at the university and two treatment groups, one of which received consultation sessions during the treatment. The results on speed increases within the speed reading course corroborate the findings in the first experiment. Reading rate transfer from the speed reading course to other texts was significant (p<.001). Comparisons within the treatment groups and within the control groups demonstrated that the usual English program did not noticeably affect the speed increase transfer to other texts, oral reading fluency improvement, or language memory span development, but the consultation sessions substantially affected speed improvement in the course and speed improvement on other types of texts. With respect to oral reading rate the experiment found that the difference between the control groups and the treatment groups was statistically significant (p<.05). The relationships between reading fluency, language accuracy, and language complexity were also explored by looking at the comprehension scores and memory span results. It was found that reading fluency improvement does not necessarily negatively affect comprehension. It, however, does not assist language accuracy development to a remarkable degree. More importantly, the experiment showed that the treatment groups considerably expanded their memory span, which implies that reading speed improvement facilitates language complexity. High correlations between speed increases in the speed reading course, reading rate improvement in other types of texts and memory span development were also found.</p>

EFL Reading Fluency Development and Its Effects

<p>Speed reading courses have been considered an effective method to improve learners' reading rate. Research in this area has concentrated on the effect of a speed reading course on students' speed improvement, but not on how to structure the course or the effects of speed improvement on other aspects of language and other types of reading. This thesis, in the first place, deals with the issue of scheduling a speed reading course, in terms of lesson frequency and course length, to achieve the best effect. The thesis also seeks to determine if speed development in the course leads to rate improvement in reading texts outside the course. Finally, the thesis looks at the effects of speed improvement on oral reading rate, language accuracy and language complexity. In the first of two experiments, a speed reading course was delivered to the four experimental groups, who followed the course on different scheduling. Four scoring methods were used to measure the participants' speed improvement and it was found that one group made smaller increases than the others in all scoring methods. A pre-test and a post-test for reading other types of texts were administered and the speeds on these texts by the four treatment groups were compared with those by the control group. The results demonstrated that all but one group from the treatment category outperformed the control group. The second experiment was both a replication of the first experiment in order to confirm the reliability of the first experiment's results and an expansion from the first experiment to explore other issues. It involved two control groups, one of which followed the usual English program at the university and two treatment groups, one of which received consultation sessions during the treatment. The results on speed increases within the speed reading course corroborate the findings in the first experiment. Reading rate transfer from the speed reading course to other texts was significant (p<.001). Comparisons within the treatment groups and within the control groups demonstrated that the usual English program did not noticeably affect the speed increase transfer to other texts, oral reading fluency improvement, or language memory span development, but the consultation sessions substantially affected speed improvement in the course and speed improvement on other types of texts. With respect to oral reading rate the experiment found that the difference between the control groups and the treatment groups was statistically significant (p<.05). The relationships between reading fluency, language accuracy, and language complexity were also explored by looking at the comprehension scores and memory span results. It was found that reading fluency improvement does not necessarily negatively affect comprehension. It, however, does not assist language accuracy development to a remarkable degree. More importantly, the experiment showed that the treatment groups considerably expanded their memory span, which implies that reading speed improvement facilitates language complexity. High correlations between speed increases in the speed reading course, reading rate improvement in other types of texts and memory span development were also found.</p>

On the Many Dimensions of Complexity in Heritage Languages

Heritage languages are often discussed in terms of their (reduced) complexity, but few attempts have been made to objectively measure the complexity of heritage languages. Here we explore various approaches to the investigation of language complexity, discussing three broad areas of inquiry: (i) attempts to objectively measure grammatical complexity, (ii) the potential role of socio-demographic factors in explaining variability in complexity, and (iii) considerations beyond grammatical complexity, which include the various aspects of complexity invoked when language is used for the purpose of communication. At each point, we highlight potential wisdom to be drawn from existing studies of heritage languages, which help to inform hypotheses for future study. The upshot is that complexity in heritage languages is itself a complex phenomenon – an observation that calls into question traditional characterizations of heritage languages in terms of an overall decrease in complexity.

Did Dog Domestication Contribute to Language Evolution?

Different factors seemingly account for the emergence of present-day languages in our species. Human self-domestication has been recently invoked as one important force favoring language complexity mostly via a cultural mechanism. Because our self-domestication ultimately resulted from selection for less aggressive behavior and increased prosocial behavior, any evolutionary or cultural change impacting on aggression levels is expected to have fostered this process. Here, we hypothesize about a parallel domestication of humans and dogs, and more specifically, about a positive effect of our interaction with dogs on human self-domestication, and ultimately, on aspects of language evolution, through the mechanisms involved in the control of aggression. We review evidence of diverse sort (ethological mostly, but also archeological, genetic, and physiological) supporting such an effect and propose some ways of testing our hypothesis.

Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Its Impact across Industries – Unlocking the True Potential of Digital Healthcare (A Case Study Approach)

During the advent of the 21st century, technical breakthroughs and developments took place. Natural Language Processing or NLP is one of their promising disciplines that has been increasingly dynamic via groundbreaking findings on most computer networks. Because of the digital revolution the amounts of data generated by M2M communication across devices and platforms such as Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortana, etc. were significantly increased. This causes a great deal of unstructured data to be processed that does not fit in with standard computational models. In addition, the increasing problems of language complexity, data variability and voice ambiguity make implementing models increasingly harder. The current study provides an overview of the potential and breadth of the NLP market and its acceptance in industry-wide, in particular after Covid-19. It also gives a macroscopic picture of progress in natural language processing research, development and implementation.