Leveraging Transformer-Based Models for Predicting Inflection Classes of Words in an Endangered Sami Language

Khalid Alnajjar, Mika Hämäläinen, Jack Rueter


Abstract
This paper presents a methodology for training a transformer-based model to classify lexical and morphosyntactic features of Skolt Sami, an endangered Uralic language characterized by complex morphology. The goal of our approach is to create an effective system for understanding and analyzing Skolt Sami, given the limited data availability and linguistic intricacies inherent to the language. Our end-to-end pipeline includes data extraction, augmentation, and training a transformer-based model capable of predicting inflection classes. The motivation behind this work is to support language preservation and revitalization efforts for minority languages like Skolt Sami. Accurate classification not only helps improve the state of Finite-State Transducers (FSTs) by providing greater lexical coverage but also contributes to systematic linguistic documentation for researchers working with newly discovered words from literature and native speakers. Our model achieves an average weighted F1 score of 1.00 for POS classification and 0.81 for inflection class classification. The trained model and code will be released publicly to facilitate future research in endangered NLP.
Anthology ID:
2024.iwclul-1.5
Volume:
Proceedings of the 9th International Workshop on Computational Linguistics for Uralic Languages
Month:
November
Year:
2024
Address:
Helsinki, Finland
Editors:
Mika Hämäläinen, Flammie Pirinen, Melany Macias, Mario Crespo Avila
Venue:
IWCLUL
SIG:
SIGUR
Publisher:
Association for Computational Linguistics
Note:
Pages:
41–48
Language:
URL:
https://aclanthology.org/2024.iwclul-1.5
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Khalid Alnajjar, Mika Hämäläinen, and Jack Rueter. 2024. Leveraging Transformer-Based Models for Predicting Inflection Classes of Words in an Endangered Sami Language. In Proceedings of the 9th International Workshop on Computational Linguistics for Uralic Languages, pages 41–48, Helsinki, Finland. Association for Computational Linguistics.
Cite (Informal):
Leveraging Transformer-Based Models for Predicting Inflection Classes of Words in an Endangered Sami Language (Alnajjar et al., IWCLUL 2024)
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PDF:
https://aclanthology.org/2024.iwclul-1.5.pdf