On the Proper Place of Semantics in Machine Translation*

This paper owes much, both directly and indirectly, to Don Walker. Indirectly, it concerns a topic which was of great interest to both of us, and which we often discussed. Don helped me to clarify my own ideas and was always both perceptive and practical, a rare combination which made discussion with him constantly illuminating. There is also a direct debt; it was written at a time when I was hors combat from the normal round of life. Don encouraged me to use the opportunity to work out what I really thought without the usual time pressure, and cheered me up in the patches of loneliness. In brief, he lent me some of his own courage.