Patent ID: 7680647

Claim:
A computer implemented method of aligning words in pairs of bilingual, aligned text fragments using a computer with a processor, comprising: linking, with the processor, word types in a plurality of pairs of the aligned text fragments, based on statistical word association scores; estimating, with the processor, a conditional probability for each pair of word types in a selected pair of aligned text fragments that is linked during the linking step, based on whether the pair of word types is also linked in other pairs of aligned text fragments during the linking step; generating the word type alignment, with the processor, by linking pairs of word types based on the conditional probability estimated; wherein linked word types in the word type alignment comprise a cluster, and further comprising, repeating the step of generating a word type alignment for unlinked words in the selected pair of text fragments by linking the unlinked words to other unlinked words or to clusters, by preferentially linking the unlinked words to other unlinked words instead of linking the unlinked words to clusters; calculating, with the processor, a measure of non-monotonicity for each of a plurality of word token alignments corresponding to the word type alignment; identifying, with the processor, a word token alignment having a desired measure of non-monotonicity; and outputting a textual input, generated based on the word type alignment and the identified word token alignment, to a translation system.