  We describe a method for automatically generating Lexical Transfer Rules
(LTRs) from word equivalences using transfer rule templates. Templates are
skeletal LTRs, unspecified for words. New LTRs are created by instantiating a
template with words, provided that the words belong to the appropriate lexical
categories required by the template. We define two methods for creating an
inventory of templates and using them to generate new LTRs. A simpler method
consists of extracting a finite set of templates from a sample of hand coded
LTRs and directly using them in the generation process. A further method
consists of abstracting over the initial finite set of templates to define
higher level templates, where bilingual equivalences are defined in terms of
correspondences involving phrasal categories. Phrasal templates are then mapped
onto sets of lexical templates with the aid of grammars. In this way an
infinite set of lexical templates is recursively defined. New LTRs are created
by parsing input words, matching a template at the phrasal level and using the
corresponding lexical categories to instantiate the lexical template. The
definition of an infinite set of templates enables the automatic creation of
LTRs for multi-word, non-compositional word equivalences of any cardinality.
