The need for MT-oriented versions of Case and Valency in MT

This paper looks at the use in machine Translation systems of the linguistic models of Case and Valency. It is argued that neither of these models was originally developed with this use in mind, and both must be adapted somewhat to meet this purpose. In particular, the traditional Valency distinction of complements and adjuncts leads to conflicts when valency frames in different languages are compared: a finer but more flexible distinction is required. Also, these concepts must be extended beyond the verb, to include the noun and adjective as valency bearers. As far as Case is concerned, too narrow an approach has traditionally been taken: work in this field has been too conerned only with cases for arguments in verb frames; case label systems for nonvalency bound elements and also for elements Jn nominal groups must be elaborated. The paper suggests an integrated approach specifically oriented towards the particular problems found in MT.