Revisiting multi-tape automata for semitic morphological analysis and generation
Mans Hulden · 2009
Various methods have been devised to produce morphological analyzers and generators for Semitic languages, ranging from methods based on widely used finite-state technologies to very specific solutions designed for a specific language or problem. Since the earliest proposals of how to adopt the elsewhere successful finite-state methods to root-and-pattern morphologies, the solution of encoding Semitic grammars using multi-tape automata has resurfaced on a regular basis. Multi-tape automata, however, require specific algorithms and reimplementation of finite-state operators across the board, and hence such technology has not been readily available to linguists. This paper, using an actual Arabic grammar as a case study, describes an approach to encoding multi-tape automata on a single tape that can be implemented using any standard finite-automaton toolkit.