# Graduate Course: GF (Grammatical Framework)

Aarne Ranta
Wed Oct 24 09:49:27 2007

GSLT, NGSLT, and Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology and Gothenburg University.

Autumn Term 2007.

# News

24/10 Tomorrow's session starts at 8.15. A detailed plan has been added to the table below. Material (new chapters) will appear later today. It will explain some of the files in

- `syntax/`: linguistic grammar programming
- `semantics/`: a question-answer system based on logical semantics

12/9 The course starts tomorrow at 8.00. A detailed plan for the day is right below. Don't forget to

- join the mailing list (send a mail to `gf-subscribe at gslt hum gu se`)
- install GF on your laptops from here
- take with you a copy of the book (as sent to the mailing list yesterday)

31/8 Revised the description of the one- and five-point variants.

21/8 Course mailing list started. To subscribe, send a mail to `gf-subscribe at gslt hum gu se` (replacing spaces by dots except around the word at, where the spaces are just removed, and the word itself is replaced by the at symbol).

20/8/2007 Schedule. The course will start on Thursday 13 September in Room C430 at the Humanities Building of Gothenburg University ("Humanisten").

# Plan

First week (13-14/9)

Time | Subject | Assignment
--- | --- | ---
Thu 8.00-9.30 | Chapters 1-3 | Hello and Food in a new language
Thu 10.00-11.30 | Chapters 3-4 | Foods in a new language
Thu 13.15-14.45 | Chapter 5 | ExtFoods in a new language
Thu 15.15-16.45 | Chapters 6-7 | straight code compiler
Fri 8.00-9.30 | Chapters 8 | application in Haskell or Java

Second week (25/10)

Time | Subject | Assignment
--- | --- | ---
Thu 8.15-9.45 | Chapters 13-15 | mini resource in a new language
Thu 10.15-11.45 | Chapters 12,16 | query system for a new domain
Thu 13.15-14.45 | presentations | explain your own project

The structure of each lecture will be the following:

- ca. 75min lecture, going through the book
- ca. 15min work on computer, individually or in pairs

In order for this to work out, it is important that enough many have a working GF installation, including the directory `examples/tutorial`. This directory is included in the Darcs version, as well as in the updated binary packages from 12 September.

# Purpose

GF (Grammatical Framework) is a grammar formalism, i.e. a special-purpose programming language for writing grammars. It is suitable for many natural language processing tasks, in particular,

- multilingual applications
- systems where grammar-based components are needed for e.g. parsing, translation, or speech recognition

The goal of the course is to develop an understanding of GF and practical skills in using it.

# Contents

The course consists of two modules. The first module is a one-week intensive course (during the first intensive week of GSLT), which is as such usable as a one-week intensive course for doctoral studies, if completed with a small course project.

The second module is a larger programming project, written by each student (possibly working in groups) during the Autumn term. The projects are discussed during the second intensive week of GSLT (see schedule), and presented at a date that will be set later.

The first module goes through the basics of GF, including

- using the GF programming language
- writing multilingual grammars
- using the GF resource grammar library
- generating speech recognition systems from GF grammars
- using embedded grammars as components of software systems

The lectures follow a draft of GF book. It contains a heavily updated version os the GF Tutorial; thus the on-line tutorial is not adequate for this course. To get the course book, join the course mailing list.

Those who just want to do the first module will write a simple application as their course work during and after the first intensive week.

Those who continue with the second module will choose a more substantial project. Possible topics are

- building a dialogue system by using GF
- implementing a multilingual document generator
- experimenting with synthetized multilingual tree banks
- extending the GF resource grammar library

# Prerequisites

Experience in programming. No earlier natural language processing or functional programming experience is necessary.

The course is thus suitable both for GSLT and NGSLT students, and for graduate students in computer science.

We will in particular welcome students from the Baltic countries who wish to build resources for their own language in GF.