Automatic Scripture Translation Exploratory Research (ASTER) Institute

Name and Address: Automatic Scripture Translation Exploratory Research (ASTER) Institute, NJ USA
Contact: G Yaeger or M K Gates

Business Description: Research & Development of tools to promote the automatic and semi-automatic translation of the Tenach and New Testament scriptures from the original Hebrew and Greek into modern languages, especially those for which translations do not exist. A non-profit enterprise.

Current Conference Papers:

2006 SBL Annual Meeting, Washington DC, USA, 18-21 November 2006

Title: Layered Hebrew Parser Modification for Graphic Display of Cantillation Marks

Program Unit: Computer Assisted Research,

Abstract:

The ASTER Hebrew Clause Parser was modified in 2004 to annotate its parse trees with both disjunctive and conjunctive cantillation marks. However the Word True Type Hebrew font did not easily accommodate display of the cantillation marks. In 2005 a UTF-8 version of the Westminster Hebrew Institute data was added to the parser but time did not permit solution of cantillation mark rendering problems. In the intervening year progress has been made in this area and the author received an updated version of the UTF-8 data and has adapted the parser to display the actual glyphs of the cantillation marks in the UTF-8 font. It is hoped that this feature will be of use for students of cantillation as well as Hebrew text linguistics.

Current Windows XP/2000/98 Developments:
- Hebrew Verb Argument Generator Tool: A tool for assinging Verb ARgument structures using the Brown driver Briggs online dictionary based on Role and Reference Grammar.
- Louw Nida Greek English dictionary: Search on Greek, English or semantic domain number. Developed with cooperation and permission of United Bible Societies. American Bible Society HomePage
- BDB Hebrew English Dictionary: Search on consonants or full vowel pointed Hebrew text or Brown Driver and Briggs English translations.
- Greek Parser: Using Gramcord Greek NT37 data base produces textual or graphic parse trees for any NT verse with translations and full syntactic features (case, number, gender, tense, mood, voice etc.) for phrase level and major clauses.
- Hebrew Layered Parser: Using Gramcord Beta Hebrew BCS data base this tool produces textual indented parse trees with a surface sentence in right justified, right to left Hebrew format and phrase level parsing for basic noun, preposition and simple verb phrases showing surface and lemma Hebrew forms and full syntactic features. Developed with cooperation of Paul A. Miller, Gramcord Institute. The GRAMCORD Institute