diff --git a/src/GF/Command/Commands.hs b/src/GF/Command/Commands.hs
index e297bb6b8..1b12d82cc 100644
--- a/src/GF/Command/Commands.hs
+++ b/src/GF/Command/Commands.hs
@@ -569,7 +569,8 @@ allCommands cod env@(pgf, mos) = Map.fromList [
      longname = "visualize_dependency",
      synopsis = "show word dependency tree graphically",
      explanation = unlines [
-       "Prints a dependency tree the .dot format (the graphviz format).",
+       "Prints a dependency tree in the .dot format (the graphviz format, default)",
+       "or the MaltParser/CoNLL format (flag -output=malt)",
        "By default, the last argument is the head of every abstract syntax",
        "function; moreover, the head depends on the head of the function above.",
        "The graph can be saved in a file by the wf command as usual.",
@@ -581,21 +582,21 @@ allCommands cod env@(pgf, mos) = Map.fromList [
      exec = \opts es -> do
          let debug = isOpt "v" opts
          let file = valStrOpts "file" "" opts
+         let outp = valStrOpts "output" "dot" opts
          mlab <- case file of
            "" -> return Nothing
            _  -> readFile file >>= return . Just . getDepLabels . lines
          let lang = optLang opts
-         let grph = if null es then [] else 
-                       dependencyTree debug mlab Nothing pgf lang (head es)
+         let grphs = unlines $ map (dependencyTree outp debug mlab Nothing pgf lang) es
          if isFlag "view" opts || isFlag "format" opts then do
-           let file s = "_grph." ++ s
+           let file s = "_grphd." ++ s
            let view = optViewGraph opts ++ " "
            let format = optViewFormat opts 
-           writeFile (file "dot") (enc grph)
+           writeFile (file "dot") (enc grphs)
            system $ "dot -T" ++ format ++ " " ++ file "dot" ++ " > " ++ file format ++ 
                     " ; " ++ view ++ file format
            return void
-          else return $ fromString grph,
+          else return $ fromString grphs,
      examples = [
        "gr | aw              -- generate a tree and show word alignment as graph script",
        "gr | vt -view=\"open\" -- generate a tree and display alignment on a Mac"
@@ -606,6 +607,7 @@ allCommands cod env@(pgf, mos) = Map.fromList [
      flags = [
        ("file","configuration file for labels per fun, format 'fun l1 ... label ... l2'"),
        ("format","format of the visualization file (default \"png\")"),
+       ("output","output format of graph source (default \"dot\")"),
        ("view","program to open the resulting file (default \"open\")")
        ] 
     }),
diff --git a/src/PGF/VisualizeTree.hs b/src/PGF/VisualizeTree.hs
index 165e96d8f..8db2cb3e4 100644
--- a/src/PGF/VisualizeTree.hs
+++ b/src/PGF/VisualizeTree.hs
@@ -60,10 +60,16 @@ prGraph digr ns = concat $ map (++"\n") $ [graph ++ "{\n"] ++ ns ++ ["}"] where
 
 -- dependency trees from Linearize.linearizeMark
 
-dependencyTree :: Bool -> Maybe Labels -> Maybe String -> PGF -> CId -> Expr -> String
-dependencyTree debug mlab ms pgf lang exp = prGraph True lin2dep where
+dependencyTree :: String -> Bool -> Maybe Labels -> Maybe String -> PGF -> CId -> Expr -> String
+dependencyTree format debug mlab ms pgf lang exp = case format of
+  "malt" -> unlines (lin2dep format)
+  _ -> prGraph True (lin2dep format) 
 
-  lin2dep = trace (ifd (show sortedNodes ++ show nodeWords)) $ prelude ++ nodes ++ links
+ where
+
+  lin2dep format = trace (ifd (show sortedNodes ++ show nodeWords)) $ case format of
+    "malt" -> map (concat . intersperse "\t") wnodes
+    _ -> prelude ++ nodes ++ links
 
   ifd s = if debug then s else []
 
@@ -78,8 +84,8 @@ dependencyTree debug mlab ms pgf lang exp = prGraph True lin2dep where
   nodeWords = (0,((mkCId "",[]),["ROOT"])) : zip [1..] [((f,p),w)| 
                                        ((Just f,p),w) <- wlins pot]
 
-  links = map mkLink 
-            [(word y, x, label tr y x) | 
+  links = map mkLink thelinks 
+  thelinks =  [(word y, x, label tr y x) | 
                       (_,((f,x),_)) <- tail nodeWords,
                       let y = dominant x]
   mkLink (x,y,l) = node x ++ " -> " ++ node y ++ " [label = \"" ++ l ++ "\"] ;"
@@ -120,13 +126,32 @@ dependencyTree debug mlab ms pgf lang exp = prGraph True lin2dep where
     Just ls | length ls > i -> ifd (showCId f ++ "#" ++ show i ++ "=") ++ ls !! i
     _ -> showCId f ++ "#" ++ show i
 
+-- to generate CoNLL format for MaltParser
+  nodeMap :: Map.Map [Int] Int
+  nodeMap = Map.fromList [(p,i) | (i,((_,p),_)) <- nodeWords]
+
+  arcMap :: Map.Map [Int] ([Int],String)
+  arcMap = Map.fromList [(y,(x,l)) | (x,y,l) <- thelinks]
+
+  lookDomLab p = case Map.lookup p arcMap of
+    Just (q,l) -> (maybe 0 id (Map.lookup q nodeMap), if null l then "_" else l)
+    _          -> (0,unspec)
+
+  wnodes = [[show i, unwords ws, showCId fun, pos, pos, morph, show dom, lab, unspec, unspec] | 
+              (i, ((fun,p),ws)) <- tail nodeWords,
+              let pos = showCId $ lookValCat pgf fun,
+              let morph = unspec,
+              let (dom,lab) = lookDomLab p
+           ]
+
+  unspec = "_"
+
 type Labels = Map.Map CId [String]
 
 getDepLabels :: [String] -> Labels
 getDepLabels ss = Map.fromList [(mkCId f,ls) | f:ls <- map words ss]
 
 
-
 -- parse trees from Linearize.linearizeMark
 ---- nubrec and domins are quadratic, but could be (n log n)