Essential Speech and Language Technology for Dutch: Results by the STEVIN-programme

414 Pages·2013·5.832 MB·

by  Peter Spyns (auth.), Peter Spyns, Jan Odijk (eds.)

Theory and Applications
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Peter Spyns Jan Odijk
(cid:2)
Editors
Essential Speech
and Language Technology
for Dutch
Results by the STEVIN programme
123
Editors
PeterSpyns JanOdijk
NederlandseTaalunie UiL-OTS
TheHague UniversityofUtrecht
TheNetherlands Utrecht
TheNetherlands
Forewordby
LindevandenBosch
NederlandseTaalunie
TheHague
TheNetherlands
ISSN2192-032X ISSN2192-0338(electronic)
ISBN978-3-642-30909-0 ISBN978-3-642-30910-6(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-642-30910-6
SpringerHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2012955243
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Foreword
The STEVIN programme was not only an important scientific endeavour in the
Low Countries,butalso a quite rare case of a tightinter-institutionalcross-border
collaboration within the Dutch-speaking linguistic area. Four funding agencies,
three ministerial departments and one intergovernmentalorganisation in Flanders
and the Netherlands were involved in this programme. STEVIN is an excellent
illustrationofhowamediumEuropeanlanguagecansetanexampleinthedomain
oflanguage(technology)policy.
Itremainsextremelyimportantthatcitizenscanuse theirnativelanguageinall
circumstances,includingwhentheydealwithmodernICTandleisuredevices.For
example,averyrecenttrendisthatdevicessuchassmart-phonesandtelevisionsets
becomevoice-controlled.ButusuallyEnglishspeakingpeoplearethefirsttobenefit
fromsuchanevolution;otherlinguisticcommunitieshavetowait–someforever?
Notonlydoesthisposeadangerofreducingtheoverallfunctionalityofalanguage
(andan impoverishmentof an entire culture),butalso it threatensthose groupsin
societythatdonotmastertheuniversallanguage.Forexample,elderlyordisabled
people,whodeservemosttoenjoytheblessingsofmoderntechnology,areinmany
cases the last ones to benefit from it. Therefore, R&D programmes that support
the locallanguageare needed.Also in the future,the DutchLanguageUnionwill
continuetoemphasisethisissue.
ManyindividualshavecontributedtomakeSTEVINasuccessstory,ofallwhich
I sincerely want to thank for their commitment. A particular mention goes to the
fundinggovernmentorganisationsfromtheNetherlandsandFlanders.
I am confident that the STEVIN results will boost research in academia and
technology development in industry so that the Dutch language can continue to
“serve” its speakerswell under all circumstances. Hence, it is with great pleasure
thatIinviteyoutodiscoverthescientificresultsoftheSTEVINprogramme.
TheHague,TheNetherlands LindevandenBosch
GeneralSecretaryofthe
DutchLanguageUnion(2004–2012)
v

Preface
Summarisingaresearchprogrammethatlastedformorethan6yearsisademanding
task due to the wealth of deliverables, publications and final results of each of
the projects concerned. In addition to the content-related topics, which interest
scientists, research programmes also lead to new insights for policy makers and
programmemanagers.Theformerwanttodiscoveradvancesinthestateoftheart,
while the latter are eager to learn good practices in programme governance and
management.
TheSTEVINprogrammeisnoexception.Inthiswork,thecollaboratorsofeach
STEVINR&Dprojecthaveselectedandsummarisedtheirscientificachievements.
Eventhoughthescientificaccomplishmentsarethemainfocusofthisvolume,we
havealsoaddeddescriptionsofsomeotherparticularaspectsoftheprogrammeas
awhole,suchasitsrationale,IPRmanagementandthemainconclusionsofitsfinal
evaluation.
This volume is the result of a great deal of dedicated and hard work by many
individuals,who,unfortunately,wecannotallmentionbynameasthelistwouldbe
too long. We would first like to thank our colleaguesof the NederlandseTaalunie
(NTU – Dutch LanguageUnion),the membersof the HLT steering boardandthe
STEVINprogrammeoffice,theparticipantsofthevariousSTEVINcommitteesand
related working groups, the project collaboratorsfor their dedicated work and, of
course,thefundingorganisations.
Additionally, we gratefully acknowledge everyone who has been involved in
creating this volume. There are the authors of the various chapters. Also, the
following members of the STEVIN international assessment panel (IAP) were so
kind to, in addition to project proposals earlier on, review contributions to this
volumeastheirlastofficialdutyforSTEVIN:
• GillesAdda–LIMSI(Paris)
• NicolettaCalzolari–ILC(Pisa)
• PaulHeisterkamp–DaimlerChrysler(Ulm)
• SteliosPiperidis(&SotirisKarabetsos)–ILSP(Athens)
• Ga´borPro´sze´ky–Morphologic(Budapest)
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viii Preface
Forthislattertask,much-appreciatedhelpcamefromthefollowinginternation-
allyrenownedresearchers:
• EtienneBarnard(&MarelieDavel)–CSIR(Pretoria)
• Nu´riaBel–IULA(Barcelona)
• NickCampbell–TCD(Dublin)
• ThierryDeclerck–DFKI(Saarbru¨cken)
• KoenraadDeSmedt–UIB(Bergen)
• Ce´dricFairon–CENTAL(Louvain-la-Neuve)
• StevenKrauwer–UiL-OTS(Utrecht)
• BenteMaegaard–CST(Copenhague)
• WimPeters(&DianaMaynard)–DCS-NLPG(Sheffield)
• LouisPols–UvA(Amsterdam)
• LaurettePretorius–UNISA(Pretoria)
• SteveRenals–ILCC(Edinburg)
• JustusRoux–CTEXT(Potchefstroom)
• KhalilSima’an–UvA-ILLC(Amsterdam)
• DanTufis¸–RACAI(Bucarest)
• JosefvanGenabith–DCU(Dublin)
• GerhardvanHuyssteen–NWU(Potchefstroom)
• WernerVerhelst–ETRO-DSSP(Brussels)
Finally, we are also indebted to Springer-Verlag’seditorial staff for their help,
namelyDr.OlgaChiarcosand,inparticular,Mrs.FedericaCorradiDell’Acqua.
It is our sincere hope and conviction that this volume will be of great interest
toaninternationalaudienceofresearchersinhumanlanguagetechnologies(HLT),
in particular those who work on Dutch, to governmentofficials active in HLT or
languagepolicyandtofundersofscience,technologyandinnovationprogrammes
ingeneral.
The STEVIN1 programmewas fundedby the Flemish and Dutch governments
(www.stevin-tst.org). Its results are presented at (www.stevin-tst.org/etalage) and
areavailableviatheHLTAgency(www.tst-centrale.org).
TheHague,TheNetherlands PeterSpyns
STEVINprogrammecoordinator
Utrecht,TheNetherlands JanOdijk
ChairoftheSTEVINprogrammecommittee
1STEVINstandsfor‘EssentialSpeechandLanguageTechnologyResources’.Inaddition,Simon
Stevinwasaseventeenthcenturyappliedscientistwho,amongstotherthings,introducedDutch
terms for mathematics and physics concepts. Heworked both inFlanders and theNetherlands.
Hence,hisnameisaperfectacronymforthisjointprogramme.Andhebecamefamousforbuilding
alandyachtforPrinceMauriceofOrange.
Acknowledgements
All projects reported on in this volume were fundedby the STEVIN programme.
STEVINwasorganisedundertheauspicesoftheDutchLanguageUnionandjointly
financed by the Flemish and Dutch governments. The Flemish government was
represented by the Department of Economy, Science and Innovation (EWI), the
Agency for Innovation (IWT), and the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO).
TheDutchgovernmentwasrepresentedbytheMinistryforEconomy,Agriculture
and Innovation (E,L&I), the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW),
theNetherlandsOrganisationforResearch(NWO)andtheAgencyNL.
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