Multi-task learning for historical text normalization: Size matters

Marc Marcel Bollmann, Anders Søgaard, Joachim Bingel

    Abstract

    Historical text normalization suffers fromsmall datasets that exhibit high variance,and previous work has shown that multitasklearning can be used to leverage datafrom related problems in order to obtainmore robust models. Previous work hasbeen limited to datasets from a specific languageand a specific historical period, andit is not clear whether results generalize. Ittherefore remains an open problem, whenhistorical text normalization benefits frommulti-task learning. We explore the benefitsof multi-task learning across 10 differentdatasets, representing different languagesand periods. Our main finding—contrary to what has been observed forother NLP tasks—is that multi-task learningmainly works when target task data isvery scarce.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings of the Workshop on Deep Learning Approaches for Low-Resource NLP
    PublisherAssociation for Computational Linguistics
    Publication date2018
    Pages19–24
    Publication statusPublished - 2018
    EventWorkshop on Deep Learning Approaches for Low-Resource NLP - Melbourne, Australia
    Duration: 19 Jul 201819 Jul 2018

    Workshop

    WorkshopWorkshop on Deep Learning Approaches for Low-Resource NLP
    Country/TerritoryAustralia
    CityMelbourne
    Period19/07/201819/07/2018

    Cite this