This paper describes our system for “NEWS 2009 Machine Transliteration Shared Task” (NEWS 2009). We only participated in the standard run, which is a direct orthographical mapping (DOP) between two languages without using any intermediate phonemic mapping. We propose a new two-step conditional random field (CRF) model for DOP machine transliteration, in which the first CRF segments a source wor...

The Author Recognition Test (ART) measures print exposure and is a unique predictor of phonological and orthographic processes in reading. In a sample of adolescent and young adult twins and siblings (216 MZ/430 DZ pairs, 307 singletons; aged 11-29 years) ART scores were moderately heritable (67%) and correlated with reading and verbal abilities, with genes largely accounting for the covariance...

To assess the learning of word form and meaning in an unfamiliar writing system, we carried out primed-naming experiments with learners of Chinese at the end of their first and second terms in a Chinese class at an American university. The subjects were required to name a target Chinese character after a prime character had been presented for 500 msec. There were three priming conditions define...

This paper presents a joint optimization method of a two-step conditional random field (CRF) model for machine transliteration and a fast decoding algorithm for the proposed method. Our method lies in the category of direct orthographical mapping (DOM) between two languages without using any intermediate phonemic mapping. In the two-step CRF model, the first CRF segments an input word into chun...

Irish and Scottish Gaelic are closely-related languages that together with Manx Gaelic make up the Goidelic branch of the Celtic family. We present a statistical model for translation from Scottish Gaelic to Irish that we hope will facilitate communication between the two language communities, especially in social media. An important aspect of this work is to overcome the orthographical differe...

As a result of the economic, political and cultural influence of Britain and the US, and the emergence of English as an international language, many world languages have absorbed loanwords from English, especially during the twentieth century. Japanese contains thousands of such borrowings, many of which are well-established and in universal use. A domestic phonetic script is available to both ...

In this work we present our expert system of Automatic reading or speech synthesis based on a text written in Standard Arabic, our work is carried out in two great stages: the creation of the sound data base, and the transformation of the written text into speech (Text To Speech TTS). This transformation is done firstly by a Phonetic Orthographical Transcription (POT) of any written Standard Ar...

This article presents a study of individual variation in computer-mediated communication. Different reduction processes, which reduce the formality and usually the orthographical form of an expression, are used at varying frequencies by non-native speakers of English in academic textchat seminars. Such processes are classified into four categories: clipping, homophone respelling, phonetic respe...

Acknowledgments My thanks go to Marc Fontaine for asking stupid questions that turned out to be quite clever, and for pointing out that correctness is essential both in the real and the physical world. I also thank Paul Baade for demanding impossible features which turned out to be the last piece in the puzzle. Julius Römmler has notified me of orthographical, typographical, and (inadvertently)...