forked from GitHub/gf-core
next-lib renamed to lib, lib to old-lib
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lib/doc/Resource-HOWTO.txt
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Resource grammar writing HOWTO
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Author: Aarne Ranta <aarne (at) cs.chalmers.se>
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Last update: %%date(%c)
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% NOTE: this is a txt2tags file.
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% Create an html file from this file using:
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% txt2tags --toc -thtml Resource-HOWTO.txt
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%!target:html
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**History**
|
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October 2007: updated for API 1.2.
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January 2006: first version.
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The purpose of this document is to tell how to implement the GF
|
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resource grammar API for a new language. We will //not// cover how
|
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to use the resource grammar, nor how to change the API. But we
|
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will give some hints how to extend the API.
|
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|
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A manual for using the resource grammar is found in
|
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|
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[``http://www.cs.chalmers.se/~aarne/GF/lib/resource-1.0/doc/synopsis.html`` http://www.cs.chalmers.se/~aarne/GF/lib/resource-1.0/doc/synopsis.html].
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|
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A tutorial on GF, also introducing the idea of resource grammars, is found in
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[``http://www.cs.chalmers.se/~aarne/GF/doc/tutorial/gf-tutorial2.html`` ../../../doc/tutorial/gf-tutorial2.html].
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This document concerns the API v. 1.0. You can find the current code in
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[``http://www.cs.chalmers.se/~aarne/GF/lib/resource-1.0/`` ..]
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==The resource grammar structure==
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The library is divided into a bunch of modules, whose dependencies
|
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are given in the following figure.
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[Syntax.png]
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- solid contours: module used by end users
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- dashed contours: internal module
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- ellipse: abstract/concrete pair of modules
|
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- rectangle: resource or instance
|
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- diamond: interface
|
||||
|
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|
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The solid ellipses show the API as visible to the user of the library. The
|
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dashed ellipses form the main of the implementation, on which the resource
|
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grammar programmer has to work with. With the exception of the ``Paradigms``
|
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module, the visible API modules can be produced mechanically.
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[Grammar.png]
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|
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Thus the API consists of a grammar and a lexicon, which is
|
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provided for test purposes.
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|
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The module structure is rather flat: most modules are direct
|
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parents of ``Grammar``. The idea
|
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is that you can concentrate on one linguistic aspect at a time, or
|
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also distribute the work among several authors. The module ``Cat``
|
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defines the "glue" that ties the aspects together - a type system
|
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to which all the other modules conform, so that e.g. ``NP`` means
|
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the same thing in those modules that use ``NP``s and those that
|
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constructs them.
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|
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|
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===Phrase category modules===
|
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|
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The direct parents of the top will be called **phrase category modules**,
|
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since each of them concentrates on a particular phrase category (nouns, verbs,
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adjectives, sentences,...). A phrase category module tells
|
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//how to construct phrases in that category//. You will find out that
|
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all functions in any of these modules have the same value type (or maybe
|
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one of a small number of different types). Thus we have
|
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|
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|
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- ``Noun``: construction of nouns and noun phrases
|
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- ``Adjective``: construction of adjectival phrases
|
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- ``Verb``: construction of verb phrases
|
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- ``Adverb``: construction of adverbial phrases
|
||||
- ``Numeral``: construction of cardinal and ordinal numerals
|
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- ``Sentence``: construction of sentences and imperatives
|
||||
- ``Question``: construction of questions
|
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- ``Relative``: construction of relative clauses
|
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- ``Conjunction``: coordination of phrases
|
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- ``Phrase``: construction of the major units of text and speech
|
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- ``Text``: construction of texts as sequences of phrases
|
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- ``Idiom``: idiomatic phrases such as existentials
|
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|
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|
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|
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|
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===Infrastructure modules===
|
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|
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Expressions of each phrase category are constructed in the corresponding
|
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phrase category module. But their //use// takes mostly place in other modules.
|
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For instance, noun phrases, which are constructed in ``Noun``, are
|
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used as arguments of functions of almost all other phrase category modules.
|
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How can we build all these modules independently of each other?
|
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|
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As usual in typeful programming, the //only// thing you need to know
|
||||
about an object you use is its type. When writing a linearization rule
|
||||
for a GF abstract syntax function, the only thing you need to know is
|
||||
the linearization types of its value and argument categories. To achieve
|
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the division of the resource grammar to several parallel phrase category modules,
|
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what we need is an underlying definition of the linearization types. This
|
||||
definition is given as the implementation of
|
||||
|
||||
- ``Cat``: syntactic categories of the resource grammar
|
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|
||||
|
||||
Any resource grammar implementation has first to agree on how to implement
|
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``Cat``. Luckily enough, even this can be done incrementally: you
|
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can skip the ``lincat`` definition of a category and use the default
|
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``{s : Str}`` until you need to change it to something else. In
|
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English, for instance, many categories do have this linearization type.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
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===Lexical modules===
|
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|
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What is lexical and what is syntactic is not as clearcut in GF as in
|
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some other grammar formalisms. Logically, lexical means atom, i.e. a
|
||||
``fun`` with no arguments. Linguistically, one may add to this
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that the ``lin`` consists of only one token (or of a table whose values
|
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are single tokens). Even in the restricted lexicon included in the resource
|
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API, the latter rule is sometimes violated in some languages. For instance,
|
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``Structural.both7and_DConj`` is an atom, but its linearization is
|
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two words e.g. //both - and//.
|
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|
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Another characterization of lexical is that lexical units can be added
|
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almost //ad libitum//, and they cannot be defined in terms of already
|
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given rules. The lexical modules of the resource API are thus more like
|
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samples than complete lists. There are two such modules:
|
||||
|
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- ``Structural``: structural words (determiners, conjunctions,...)
|
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- ``Lexicon``: basic everyday content words (nouns, verbs,...)
|
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|
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|
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The module ``Structural`` aims for completeness, and is likely to
|
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be extended in future releases of the resource. The module ``Lexicon``
|
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gives a "random" list of words, which enable interesting testing of syntax,
|
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and also a check list for morphology, since those words are likely to include
|
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most morphological patterns of the language.
|
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|
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In the case of ``Lexicon`` it may come out clearer than anywhere else
|
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in the API that it is impossible to give exact translation equivalents in
|
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different languages on the level of a resource grammar. In other words,
|
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application grammars are likely to use the resource in different ways for
|
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different languages.
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|
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==Language-dependent syntax modules==
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In addition to the common API, there is room for language-dependent extensions
|
||||
of the resource. The top level of each languages looks as follows (with English as example):
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```
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abstract English = Grammar, ExtraEngAbs, DictEngAbs
|
||||
```
|
||||
where ``ExtraEngAbs`` is a collection of syntactic structures specific to English,
|
||||
and ``DictEngAbs`` is an English dictionary
|
||||
(at the moment, it consists of ``IrregEngAbs``,
|
||||
the irregular verbs of English). Each of these language-specific grammars has
|
||||
the potential to grow into a full-scale grammar of the language. These grammar
|
||||
can also be used as libraries, but the possibility of using functors is lost.
|
||||
|
||||
To give a better overview of language-specific structures,
|
||||
modules like ``ExtraEngAbs``
|
||||
are built from a language-independent module ``ExtraAbs``
|
||||
by restricted inheritance:
|
||||
```
|
||||
abstract ExtraEngAbs = Extra [f,g,...]
|
||||
```
|
||||
Thus any category and function in ``Extra`` may be shared by a subset of all
|
||||
languages. One can see this set-up as a matrix, which tells
|
||||
what ``Extra`` structures
|
||||
are implemented in what languages. For the common API in ``Grammar``, the matrix
|
||||
is filled with 1's (everything is implemented in every language).
|
||||
|
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In a minimal resource grammar implementation, the language-dependent
|
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extensions are just empty modules, but it is good to provide them for
|
||||
the sake of uniformity.
|
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|
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|
||||
==The core of the syntax==
|
||||
|
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Among all categories and functions, a handful are
|
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most important and distinct ones, of which the others are can be
|
||||
seen as variations. The categories are
|
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```
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||||
Cl ; VP ; V2 ; NP ; CN ; Det ; AP ;
|
||||
```
|
||||
The functions are
|
||||
```
|
||||
PredVP : NP -> VP -> Cl ; -- predication
|
||||
ComplV2 : V2 -> NP -> VP ; -- complementization
|
||||
DetCN : Det -> CN -> NP ; -- determination
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||||
ModCN : AP -> CN -> CN ; -- modification
|
||||
```
|
||||
This [toy Latin grammar latin.gf] shows in a nutshell how these
|
||||
rules relate the categories to each other. It is intended to be a
|
||||
first approximation when designing the parameter system of a new
|
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language.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
===Another reduced API===
|
||||
|
||||
If you want to experiment with a small subset of the resource API first,
|
||||
try out the module
|
||||
[Syntax http://www.cs.chalmers.se/~aarne/GF/doc/tutorial/resource/Syntax.gf]
|
||||
explained in the
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[GF Tutorial http://www.cs.chalmers.se/~aarne/GF/doc/tutorial/gf-tutorial2.html].
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
===The present-tense fragment===
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Some lines in the resource library are suffixed with the comment
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```--# notpresent
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which is used by a preprocessor to exclude those lines from
|
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a reduced version of the full resource. This present-tense-only
|
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version is useful for applications in most technical text, since
|
||||
they reduce the grammar size and compilation time. It can also
|
||||
be useful to exclude those lines in a first version of resource
|
||||
implementation. To compile a grammar with present-tense-only, use
|
||||
```
|
||||
i -preproc=GF/lib/resource-1.0/mkPresent LangGer.gf
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||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
==Phases of the work==
|
||||
|
||||
===Putting up a directory===
|
||||
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||||
Unless you are writing an instance of a parametrized implementation
|
||||
(Romance or Scandinavian), which will be covered later, the
|
||||
simplest way is to follow roughly the following procedure. Assume you
|
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are building a grammar for the German language. Here are the first steps,
|
||||
which we actually followed ourselves when building the German implementation
|
||||
of resource v. 1.0.
|
||||
|
||||
+ Create a sister directory for ``GF/lib/resource/english``, named
|
||||
``german``.
|
||||
```
|
||||
cd GF/lib/resource/
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||||
mkdir german
|
||||
cd german
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
+ Check out the [ISO 639 3-letter language code
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http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/ert/iso639.htm]
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||||
for German: both ``Ger`` and ``Deu`` are given, and we pick ``Ger``.
|
||||
|
||||
+ Copy the ``*Eng.gf`` files from ``english`` ``german``,
|
||||
and rename them:
|
||||
```
|
||||
cp ../english/*Eng.gf .
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||||
rename 's/Eng/Ger/' *Eng.gf
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
+ Change the ``Eng`` module references to ``Ger`` references
|
||||
in all files:
|
||||
```
|
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sed -i 's/English/German/g' *Ger.gf
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||||
sed -i 's/Eng/Ger/g' *Ger.gf
|
||||
```
|
||||
The first line prevents changing the word ``English``, which appears
|
||||
here and there in comments, to ``Gerlish``.
|
||||
|
||||
+ This may of course change unwanted occurrences of the
|
||||
string ``Eng`` - verify this by
|
||||
```
|
||||
grep Ger *.gf
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||||
```
|
||||
But you will have to make lots of manual changes in all files anyway!
|
||||
|
||||
+ Comment out the contents of these files:
|
||||
```
|
||||
sed -i 's/^/--/' *Ger.gf
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||||
```
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||||
This will give you a set of templates out of which the grammar
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will grow as you uncomment and modify the files rule by rule.
|
||||
|
||||
+ In all ``.gf`` files, uncomment the module headers and brackets,
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||||
leaving the module bodies commented. Unfortunately, there is no
|
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simple way to do this automatically (or to avoid commenting these
|
||||
lines in the previous step) - but uncommenting the first
|
||||
and the last lines will actually do the job for many of the files.
|
||||
|
||||
+ Uncomment the contents of the main grammar file:
|
||||
```
|
||||
sed -i 's/^--//' LangGer.gf
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
+ Now you can open the grammar ``LangGer`` in GF:
|
||||
```
|
||||
gf LangGer.gf
|
||||
```
|
||||
You will get lots of warnings on missing rules, but the grammar will compile.
|
||||
|
||||
+ At all following steps you will now have a valid, but incomplete
|
||||
GF grammar. The GF command
|
||||
```
|
||||
pg -printer=missing
|
||||
```
|
||||
tells you what exactly is missing.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Here is the module structure of ``LangGer``. It has been simplified by leaving out
|
||||
the majority of the phrase category modules. Each of them has the same dependencies
|
||||
as e.g. ``VerbGer``.
|
||||
|
||||
[German.png]
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
===Direction of work===
|
||||
|
||||
The real work starts now. There are many ways to proceed, the main ones being
|
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- Top-down: start from the module ``Phrase`` and go down to ``Sentence``, then
|
||||
``Verb``, ``Noun``, and in the end ``Lexicon``. In this way, you are all the time
|
||||
building complete phrases, and add them with more content as you proceed.
|
||||
**This approach is not recommended**. It is impossible to test the rules if
|
||||
you have no words to apply the constructions to.
|
||||
|
||||
- Bottom-up: set as your first goal to implement ``Lexicon``. To this end, you
|
||||
need to write ``ParadigmsGer``, which in turn needs parts of
|
||||
``MorphoGer`` and ``ResGer``.
|
||||
**This approach is not recommended**. You can get stuck to details of
|
||||
morphology such as irregular words, and you don't have enough grasp about
|
||||
the type system to decide what forms to cover in morphology.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
The practical working direction is thus a saw-like motion between the morphological
|
||||
and top-level modules. Here is a possible course of the work that gives enough
|
||||
test data and enough general view at any point:
|
||||
+ Define ``Cat.N`` and the required parameter types in ``ResGer``. As we define
|
||||
```
|
||||
lincat N = {s : Number => Case => Str ; g : Gender} ;
|
||||
```
|
||||
we need the parameter types ``Number``, ``Case``, and ``Gender``. The definition
|
||||
of ``Number`` in [``common/ParamX`` ../common/ParamX.gf] works for German, so we
|
||||
use it and just define ``Case`` and ``Gender`` in ``ResGer``.
|
||||
|
||||
+ Define ``regN`` in ``ParadigmsGer``. In this way you can
|
||||
already implement a huge amount of nouns correctly in ``LexiconGer``. Actually
|
||||
just adding ``mkN`` should suffice for every noun - but,
|
||||
since it is tedious to use, you
|
||||
might proceed to the next step before returning to morphology and defining the
|
||||
real work horse ``reg2N``.
|
||||
|
||||
+ While doing this, you may want to test the resource independently. Do this by
|
||||
```
|
||||
i -retain ParadigmsGer
|
||||
cc regN "Kirche"
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
+ Proceed to determiners and pronouns in
|
||||
``NounGer`` (``DetCN UsePron DetSg SgQuant NoNum NoOrd DefArt IndefArt UseN``)and
|
||||
``StructuralGer`` (``i_Pron every_Det``). You also need some categories and
|
||||
parameter types. At this point, it is maybe not possible to find out the final
|
||||
linearization types of ``CN``, ``NP``, and ``Det``, but at least you should
|
||||
be able to correctly inflect noun phrases such as //every airplane//:
|
||||
```
|
||||
i LangGer.gf
|
||||
l -table DetCN every_Det (UseN airplane_N)
|
||||
|
||||
Nom: jeder Flugzeug
|
||||
Acc: jeden Flugzeug
|
||||
Dat: jedem Flugzeug
|
||||
Gen: jedes Flugzeugs
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
+ Proceed to verbs: define ``CatGer.V``, ``ResGer.VForm``, and
|
||||
``ParadigmsGer.regV``. You may choose to exclude ``notpresent``
|
||||
cases at this point. But anyway, you will be able to inflect a good
|
||||
number of verbs in ``Lexicon``, such as
|
||||
``live_V`` (``regV "leven"``).
|
||||
|
||||
+ Now you can soon form your first sentences: define ``VP`` and
|
||||
``Cl`` in ``CatGer``, ``VerbGer.UseV``, and ``SentenceGer.PredVP``.
|
||||
Even if you have excluded the tenses, you will be able to produce
|
||||
```
|
||||
i -preproc=mkPresent LangGer.gf
|
||||
> l -table PredVP (UsePron i_Pron) (UseV live_V)
|
||||
|
||||
Pres Simul Pos Main: ich lebe
|
||||
Pres Simul Pos Inv: lebe ich
|
||||
Pres Simul Pos Sub: ich lebe
|
||||
Pres Simul Neg Main: ich lebe nicht
|
||||
Pres Simul Neg Inv: lebe ich nicht
|
||||
Pres Simul Neg Sub: ich nicht lebe
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
+ Transitive verbs (``CatGer.V2 ParadigmsGer.dirV2 VerbGer.ComplV2``)
|
||||
are a natural next step, so that you can
|
||||
produce ``ich liebe dich``.
|
||||
|
||||
+ Adjectives (``CatGer.A ParadigmsGer.regA NounGer.AdjCN AdjectiveGer.PositA``)
|
||||
will force you to think about strong and weak declensions, so that you can
|
||||
correctly inflect //my new car, this new car//.
|
||||
|
||||
+ Once you have implemented the set
|
||||
(``Noun.DetCN Noun.AdjCN Verb.UseV Verb.ComplV2 Sentence.PredVP),
|
||||
you have overcome most of difficulties. You know roughly what parameters
|
||||
and dependences there are in your language, and you can now produce very
|
||||
much in the order you please.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
===The develop-test cycle===
|
||||
|
||||
The following develop-test cycle will
|
||||
be applied most of the time, both in the first steps described above
|
||||
and in later steps where you are more on your own.
|
||||
|
||||
+ Select a phrase category module, e.g. ``NounGer``, and uncomment some
|
||||
linearization rules (for instance, ``DefSg``, which is
|
||||
not too complicated).
|
||||
|
||||
+ Write down some German examples of this rule, for instance translations
|
||||
of "the dog", "the house", "the big house", etc. Write these in all their
|
||||
different forms (two numbers and four cases).
|
||||
|
||||
+ Think about the categories involved (``CN, NP, N``) and the
|
||||
variations they have. Encode this in the lincats of ``CatGer``.
|
||||
You may have to define some new parameter types in ``ResGer``.
|
||||
|
||||
+ To be able to test the construction,
|
||||
define some words you need to instantiate it
|
||||
in ``LexiconGer``. You will also need some regular inflection patterns
|
||||
in``ParadigmsGer``.
|
||||
|
||||
+ Test by parsing, linearization,
|
||||
and random generation. In particular, linearization to a table should
|
||||
be used so that you see all forms produced:
|
||||
```
|
||||
gr -cat=NP -number=20 -tr | l -table
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
+ Spare some tree-linearization pairs for later regression testing. Use the
|
||||
``tree_bank`` command,
|
||||
```
|
||||
gr -cat=NP -number=20 | tb -xml | wf NP.tb
|
||||
```
|
||||
You can later compared your modified grammar to this treebank by
|
||||
```
|
||||
rf NP.tb | tb -c
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
You are likely to run this cycle a few times for each linearization rule
|
||||
you implement, and some hundreds of times altogether. There are 66 ``cat``s and
|
||||
458 ``funs`` in ``Lang`` at the moment; 149 of the ``funs`` are outside the two
|
||||
lexicon modules).
|
||||
|
||||
Here is a [live log ../german/log.txt] of the actual process of
|
||||
building the German implementation of resource API v. 1.0.
|
||||
It is the basis of the more detailed explanations, which will
|
||||
follow soon. (You will found out that these explanations involve
|
||||
a rational reconstruction of the live process! Among other things, the
|
||||
API was changed during the actual process to make it more intuitive.)
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
===Resource modules used===
|
||||
|
||||
These modules will be written by you.
|
||||
|
||||
- ``ResGer``: parameter types and auxiliary operations
|
||||
(a resource for the resource grammar!)
|
||||
- ``ParadigmsGer``: complete inflection engine and most important regular paradigms
|
||||
- ``MorphoGer``: auxiliaries for ``ParadigmsGer`` and ``StructuralGer``. This need
|
||||
not be separate from ``ResGer``.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
These modules are language-independent and provided by the existing resource
|
||||
package.
|
||||
|
||||
- ``ParamX``: parameter types used in many languages
|
||||
- ``CommonX``: implementation of language-uniform categories
|
||||
such as $Text$ and $Phr$, as well as of
|
||||
the logical tense, anteriority, and polarity parameters
|
||||
- ``Coordination``: operations to deal with lists and coordination
|
||||
- ``Prelude``: general-purpose operations on strings, records,
|
||||
truth values, etc.
|
||||
- ``Predefined``: general-purpose operations with hard-coded definitions
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
An important decision is what rules to implement in terms of operations in
|
||||
``ResGer``. A golden rule of functional programming says that, whenever
|
||||
you find yourself programming by copy and paste, you should write a function
|
||||
instead. This indicates that an operation should be created if it is to be
|
||||
used at least twice. At the same time, a sound principle of vicinity says that
|
||||
it should not require too much browsing to understand what a rule does.
|
||||
From these two principles, we have derived the following practice:
|
||||
- If an operation is needed //in two different modules//,
|
||||
it should be created in ``ResGer``. An example is ``mkClause``,
|
||||
used in ``Sentence``, ``Question``, and ``Relative``-
|
||||
- If an operation is needed //twice in the same module//, but never
|
||||
outside, it should be created in the same module. Many examples are
|
||||
found in ``Numerals``.
|
||||
- If an operation is only needed once, it should not be created (but rather
|
||||
inlined). Most functions in phrase category modules are implemented in this
|
||||
way.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
This discipline is very different from the one followed in earlier
|
||||
versions of the library (up to 0.9). We then valued the principle of
|
||||
abstraction more than vicinity, creating layers of abstraction for
|
||||
almost everything. This led in practice to the duplication of almost
|
||||
all code on the ``lin`` and ``oper`` levels, and made the code
|
||||
hard to understand and maintain.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
===Morphology and lexicon===
|
||||
|
||||
The paradigms needed to implement
|
||||
``LexiconGer`` are defined in
|
||||
``ParadigmsGer``.
|
||||
This module provides high-level ways to define the linearization of
|
||||
lexical items, of categories ``N, A, V`` and their complement-taking
|
||||
variants.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
For ease of use, the ``Paradigms`` modules follow a certain
|
||||
naming convention. Thus they for each lexical category, such as ``N``,
|
||||
the functions
|
||||
|
||||
- ``mkN``, for worst-case construction of ``N``. Its type signature
|
||||
has the form
|
||||
```
|
||||
mkN : Str -> ... -> Str -> P -> ... -> Q -> N
|
||||
```
|
||||
with as many string and parameter arguments as can ever be needed to
|
||||
construct an ``N``.
|
||||
- ``regN``, for the most common cases, with just one string argument:
|
||||
```
|
||||
regN : Str -> N
|
||||
```
|
||||
- A language-dependent (small) set of functions to handle mild irregularities
|
||||
and common exceptions.
|
||||
|
||||
For the complement-taking variants, such as ``V2``, we provide
|
||||
|
||||
- ``mkV2``, which takes a ``V`` and all necessary arguments, such
|
||||
as case and preposition:
|
||||
```
|
||||
mkV2 : V -> Case -> Str -> V2 ;
|
||||
```
|
||||
- A language-dependent (small) set of functions to handle common special cases,
|
||||
such as direct transitive verbs:
|
||||
```
|
||||
dirV2 : V -> V2 ;
|
||||
-- dirV2 v = mkV2 v accusative []
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
The golden rule for the design of paradigms is that
|
||||
|
||||
- The user will only need function applications with constants and strings,
|
||||
never any records or tables.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
The discipline of data abstraction moreover requires that the user of the resource
|
||||
is not given access to parameter constructors, but only to constants that denote
|
||||
them. This gives the resource grammarian the freedom to change the underlying
|
||||
data representation if needed. It means that the ``ParadigmsGer`` module has
|
||||
to define constants for those parameter types and constructors that
|
||||
the application grammarian may need to use, e.g.
|
||||
```
|
||||
oper
|
||||
Case : Type ;
|
||||
nominative, accusative, genitive, dative : Case ;
|
||||
```
|
||||
These constants are defined in terms of parameter types and constructors
|
||||
in ``ResGer`` and ``MorphoGer``, which modules are not
|
||||
visible to the application grammarian.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
===Lock fields===
|
||||
|
||||
An important difference between ``MorphoGer`` and
|
||||
``ParadigmsGer`` is that the former uses "raw" record types
|
||||
for word classes, whereas the latter used category symbols defined in
|
||||
``CatGer``. When these category symbols are used to denote
|
||||
record types in a resource modules, such as ``ParadigmsGer``,
|
||||
a **lock field** is added to the record, so that categories
|
||||
with the same implementation are not confused with each other.
|
||||
(This is inspired by the ``newtype`` discipline in Haskell.)
|
||||
For instance, the lincats of adverbs and conjunctions are the same
|
||||
in ``CommonX`` (and therefore in ``CatGer``, which inherits it):
|
||||
```
|
||||
lincat Adv = {s : Str} ;
|
||||
lincat Conj = {s : Str} ;
|
||||
```
|
||||
But when these category symbols are used to denote their linearization
|
||||
types in resource module, these definitions are translated to
|
||||
```
|
||||
oper Adv : Type = {s : Str ; lock_Adv : {}} ;
|
||||
oper Conj : Type = {s : Str} ; lock_Conj : {}} ;
|
||||
```
|
||||
In this way, the user of a resource grammar cannot confuse adverbs with
|
||||
conjunctions. In other words, the lock fields force the type checker
|
||||
to function as grammaticality checker.
|
||||
|
||||
When the resource grammar is ``open``ed in an application grammar, the
|
||||
lock fields are never seen (except possibly in type error messages),
|
||||
and the application grammarian should never write them herself. If she
|
||||
has to do this, it is a sign that the resource grammar is incomplete, and
|
||||
the proper way to proceed is to fix the resource grammar.
|
||||
|
||||
The resource grammarian has to provide the dummy lock field values
|
||||
in her hidden definitions of constants in ``Paradigms``. For instance,
|
||||
```
|
||||
mkAdv : Str -> Adv ;
|
||||
-- mkAdv s = {s = s ; lock_Adv = <>} ;
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
===Lexicon construction===
|
||||
|
||||
The lexicon belonging to ``LangGer`` consists of two modules:
|
||||
|
||||
- ``StructuralGer``, structural words, built by directly using
|
||||
``MorphoGer``.
|
||||
- ``BasicGer``, content words, built by using ``ParadigmsGer``.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
The reason why ``MorphoGer`` has to be used in ``StructuralGer``
|
||||
is that ``ParadigmsGer`` does not contain constructors for closed
|
||||
word classes such as pronouns and determiners. The reason why we
|
||||
recommend ``ParadigmsGer`` for building ``LexiconGer`` is that
|
||||
the coverage of the paradigms gets thereby tested and that the
|
||||
use of the paradigms in ``LexiconGer`` gives a good set of examples for
|
||||
those who want to build new lexica.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
==Inside grammar modules==
|
||||
|
||||
Detailed implementation tricks
|
||||
are found in the comments of each module.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
===The category system===
|
||||
|
||||
- [Common gfdoc/Common.html], [CommonX ../common/CommonX.gf]
|
||||
- [Cat gfdoc/Cat.html], [CatGer gfdoc/CatGer.gf]
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
===Phrase category modules===
|
||||
|
||||
- [Noun gfdoc/Noun.html], [NounGer ../german/NounGer.gf]
|
||||
- [Adjective gfdoc/Adjective.html], [AdjectiveGer ../german/AdjectiveGer.gf]
|
||||
- [Verb gfdoc/Verb.html], [VerbGer ../german/VerbGer.gf]
|
||||
- [Adverb gfdoc/Adverb.html], [AdverbGer ../german/AdverbGer.gf]
|
||||
- [Numeral gfdoc/Numeral.html], [NumeralGer ../german/NumeralGer.gf]
|
||||
- [Sentence gfdoc/Sentence.html], [SentenceGer ../german/SentenceGer.gf]
|
||||
- [Question gfdoc/Question.html], [QuestionGer ../german/QuestionGer.gf]
|
||||
- [Relative gfdoc/Relative.html], [RelativeGer ../german/RelativeGer.gf]
|
||||
- [Conjunction gfdoc/Conjunction.html], [ConjunctionGer ../german/ConjunctionGer.gf]
|
||||
- [Phrase gfdoc/Phrase.html], [PhraseGer ../german/PhraseGer.gf]
|
||||
- [Text gfdoc/Text.html], [TextX ../common/TextX.gf]
|
||||
- [Idiom gfdoc/Idiom.html], [IdiomGer ../german/IdiomGer.gf]
|
||||
- [Lang gfdoc/Lang.html], [LangGer ../german/LangGer.gf]
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
===Resource modules===
|
||||
|
||||
- [ResGer ../german/ResGer.gf]
|
||||
- [MorphoGer ../german/MorphoGer.gf]
|
||||
- [ParadigmsGer gfdoc/ParadigmsGer.html], [ParadigmsGer.gf ../german/ParadigmsGer.gf]
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
===Lexicon===
|
||||
|
||||
- [Structural gfdoc/Structural.html], [StructuralGer ../german/StructuralGer.gf]
|
||||
- [Lexicon gfdoc/Lexicon.html], [LexiconGer ../german/LexiconGer.gf]
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
==Lexicon extension==
|
||||
|
||||
===The irregularity lexicon===
|
||||
|
||||
It may be handy to provide a separate module of irregular
|
||||
verbs and other words which are difficult for a lexicographer
|
||||
to handle. There are usually a limited number of such words - a
|
||||
few hundred perhaps. Building such a lexicon separately also
|
||||
makes it less important to cover //everything// by the
|
||||
worst-case paradigms (``mkV`` etc).
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
===Lexicon extraction from a word list===
|
||||
|
||||
You can often find resources such as lists of
|
||||
irregular verbs on the internet. For instance, the
|
||||
[Irregular German Verbs http://www.iee.et.tu-dresden.de/~wernerr/grammar/verben_dt.html]
|
||||
page gives a list of verbs in the
|
||||
traditional tabular format, which begins as follows:
|
||||
```
|
||||
backen (du bäckst, er bäckt) backte [buk] gebacken
|
||||
befehlen (du befiehlst, er befiehlt; befiehl!) befahl (beföhle; befähle) befohlen
|
||||
beginnen begann (begönne; begänne) begonnen
|
||||
beißen biß gebissen
|
||||
```
|
||||
All you have to do is to write a suitable verb paradigm
|
||||
```
|
||||
irregV : (x1,_,_,_,_,x6 : Str) -> V ;
|
||||
```
|
||||
and a Perl or Python or Haskell script that transforms
|
||||
the table to
|
||||
```
|
||||
backen_V = irregV "backen" "bäckt" "back" "backte" "backte" "gebacken" ;
|
||||
befehlen_V = irregV "befehlen" "befiehlt" "befiehl" "befahl" "beföhle" "befohlen" ;
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
When using ready-made word lists, you should think about
|
||||
coyright issues. Ideally, all resource grammar material should
|
||||
be provided under GNU General Public License.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
===Lexicon extraction from raw text data===
|
||||
|
||||
This is a cheap technique to build a lexicon of thousands
|
||||
of words, if text data is available in digital format.
|
||||
See the [Functional Morphology http://www.cs.chalmers.se/~markus/FM/]
|
||||
homepage for details.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
===Extending the resource grammar API===
|
||||
|
||||
Sooner or later it will happen that the resource grammar API
|
||||
does not suffice for all applications. A common reason is
|
||||
that it does not include idiomatic expressions in a given language.
|
||||
The solution then is in the first place to build language-specific
|
||||
extension modules. This chapter will deal with this issue (to be completed).
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
==Writing an instance of parametrized resource grammar implementation==
|
||||
|
||||
Above we have looked at how a resource implementation is built by
|
||||
the copy and paste method (from English to German), that is, formally
|
||||
speaking, from scratch. A more elegant solution available for
|
||||
families of languages such as Romance and Scandinavian is to
|
||||
use parametrized modules. The advantages are
|
||||
|
||||
- theoretical: linguistic generalizations and insights
|
||||
- practical: maintainability improves with fewer components
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
In this chapter, we will look at an example: adding Italian to
|
||||
the Romance family (to be completed). Here is a set of
|
||||
[slides http://www.cs.chalmers.se/~aarne/geocal2006.pdf]
|
||||
on the topic.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
==Parametrizing a resource grammar implementation==
|
||||
|
||||
This is the most demanding form of resource grammar writing.
|
||||
We do //not// recommend the method of parametrizing from the
|
||||
beginning: it is easier to have one language first implemented
|
||||
in the conventional way and then add another language of the
|
||||
same family by aprametrization. This means that the copy and
|
||||
paste method is still used, but at this time the differences
|
||||
are put into an ``interface`` module.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
This chapter will work out an example of how an Estonian grammar
|
||||
is constructed from the Finnish grammar through parametrization.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Reference in New Issue
Block a user