Method and apparatus for parsing in a spoken language translation system

Abstract

A method and apparatus for parsing in a spoken language translation system are provided, wherein an input is received comprising at least one input sentence or expression. A parsing table is accessed and consulted for a next action, wherein the parser looks up in the next action in the parsing table. During parsing operations, the parser may perform shift actions and reduce actions. In performing a shift action, a next item of the input string is shifted onto a stack or intermediate data structure of the parser. A new parse node is generated, and a feature structure or lexical feature structure of the shifted input item is obtained from a morphological analyzer and associated with the new parse node. The new node is placed on the stack or intermediate data structure. In performing a reduce action, a grammar rule and an associated compiled feature structure manipulation are applied. When the manipulations succeed, a new parse node is generated comprising the new feature structures resulting from the successful feature structure manipulations. When the entire input is successfully parsed then an accept action is performed, a rebuilding procedure is performed, and a structural analysis of the input is provided comprising a number of parse trees and sentential feature structures.