Generation of Noun-Noun compounds in the Spanish-English machine translation system SPANAM®

The translation of Spanish Noun + preposition + Noun (NPN) constructions into English Noun-Noun (NN) compounds in many cases produces output with a higher level of fluency than if the NPN ordering is preserved. However, overgeneration of NN compounds can be dangerous because it may introduce ambiguity in the translation. This paper presents the strategy implemented in SPANAM® to address this issue. The strategy involves dictionary coding of key words and expressions that allow or prohibit NN formation as well as an algorithm that generates NN compounds automatically when no dictionary coding is present. Certain conditions specified in the algorithm may also override the dictionary coding. The strategy makes use of syntactic and lexical information. No semantic coding is required. The last step in the strategy involves post-editing macros that allow the posteditor to quickly create or undo NN compounds if SPANAM® did not generate the desired result.