https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/5431 2026-04-24T03:28:20Z 2026-04-24T03:28:20Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/70203 2021-03-02T13:40:16Z 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Morphology in the Maltese language : a computational perspective Abstract: This thesis presents the first comprehensive and systematic treatment of Maltese morphology using machine learning techniques. Maltese is considered as a ‘mixed’ language reflected in the hybrid nature of the morphological system, which has elements of both templatic systems typical of Semitic languages, and stem-based systems typical of Indo-European ones. The research looked at three different aspects of computational morphology, namely segmentation, relations and labelling. The segmentation task first explored unsupervised techniques to learn potential stems and affixes. The results were then used as the basis of the relations task, through the clustering of words on the basis of their orthographic and semantic similarity. The clustering technique was also unsupervised and used a metric to measure the disparity or similarity of a group of words so as to improve the clusters. An evaluation of the clusters was carried out using both experts and non-experts. The results of the non-expert group focused on the quality of the clusters, whilst the analysis of the expert responses focused on the differences between the concatenative and non-concatenative word clusters. Morphological labelling of words was viewed as a classification problem and approached using supervised techniques. Initially, the research focused on the classification of verbal inflections, resulting in a sequence of classifiers that represented different morphological properties. Cascade classifiers were then built for the noun and adjective categories, and integrated into a single classification system. The classification of grammatical category was also explored, questioning whether the morphological labels outputted by the different cascades could be used to reinforce the classification of the grammatical category. A final evaluation tested the full classification system on gold standard data from the MLRS corpus. The research resulted in a morphological classification system for verbs, nouns and adjectives. Although it has not yet achieved a sufficiently high accuracy, it provides the foundations for a more complete morphological analyser with broader coverage. The scope of the research was not merely a technological one, to create a morphological analyser, but rather to investigate the hybridity of the morphological system in Maltese and how this impacts the results of different techniques. Description: PH.D.LINGUISTICS

2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/5439 2016-01-20T13:18:31Z 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Variation in English : perception and patterns in the identification of Maltese English Abstract: This dissertation investigates patterns of speech perception and speech production, and some of the relationships between the two, in a newly emerging dialect of English, Maltese English (MaltE). The research taps into the familiar sensation felt by many native MaltE listeners, that they would know if a person was Maltese even if they were speaking in English, and even if the English concerned contained a range of patterns of variation across different Maltese speakers. In considering both patterns of perception and of production of aspects of variation in MaltE, I investigate whether 28 native MaltE listeners are sensitive to the perception of what might be considered identifiably MaltE, even though there may also be variation in the use of such identifiably MaltE characteristics. I then explore patterns of production in both natural and more scripted speech in six MaltE speakers within the framework of a continuum of varation, with reference to five particular characteristics widely noted to be associated with MaltE speech patterns. Here I expect that degrees of variation in some of the five characteristics may correspond quite closely with the listeners’ perceptions about what they consider to be more or less identifiably MaltE. Results indicate a promising degree of correspondence between perceptions, on one hand, and the frequency and/or form of variation present in the five characteristics studied, on the other hand. The results also point towards a better understanding of the interplay between perception and production in language variation. To this end the results of both the perception and the production patterns are also used to build the beginnings of an index which may represent different degrees of variation in each MaltE speaker, across a number of features identified as salient for MaltE. Description: PH.D.LINGUISTICS

2015-01-01T00:00:00Z