amir-zeldes
commented
2 years ago Sorry this took me a while to go over, this looks great! My only suggestions are some minor edits:
- "or forms that get the explicit definite accusative" > including forms that get... (sounded a bit normative)
- "in this particular case the deprel is xcomp(nishara, ptuxa)." - I would add "in xcomps, there is always an implicit secondary predication: in this example, the question is both that which remains and that which is open; in other words, פתוחה is a secondary predicate which also applies to the same subject, שאלה
- "xcomp(arxa, xodashim)" - no, I actually think this is
obl:npmod(typical for extent NPs - and notice there is no secondary predication - the work is not itself 'months', it's a modifier of the verb) - "the parser shows a strong bias" - I would maybe remove this, since I don't think we should be talking about a particular parser version in the guidelines. The guidelines should ideally be a document that can stay relevant for many years, so this statement may not make sense in the future.
- "rule content clause arguments" > govern
- "ccomp..usually a clause in the object position" > delete 'usually'
- "an article recommended by Shira and attached to the guidelines" etc. - sure, but removing the references to individuals in the guidelines (this part is just commentary for discussion right?)
Hilla-Merhav
Hi @amir-zeldes
In order to avoid the parser's tendency to tag
xcompasobj, --- andcsubjorcsubj:passasccomp, and in order to align the voice issue, I suggest adding three sections to the guidelines under the "confusing cases" section:objorxcomp?ccomporcsubj[:pass]?I kindly ask for your approval before adding them to the guidelines. In case you think that the examples are suitable, I will create proper trees that could be of help.
obj or xcomp?
Only transitive verbs can govern accusative objects (or forms that get the explicit definite accusative object because of colloquial-origin language changes – יש לי את ה..., בא לי את ה...). Middle and passive verbs don't govern objects: the middle is a reflexive category with the mention of only one argument (which is a syntactic subject – it comes with no explicit syntactic object). In a passive clause what is usually expressed by the object (or sometimes another argument) is now expressed by the subject.
The best way to check if a token is governed through
objis to apply the את ה... test: השאלה נשארה פתוחה *השאלה נשארה את הפתוחהIf an element can’t be modified by את ה... and there is no possibility to rephrase the sentence to make it work, this is not an
obj. In this particular case the deprel isxcomp(nishara, ptuxa).It should be noted that there are also active intransitive verbs that can fail this test: העבודה ארכה חודשים *העבודה ארכה את החודשים
xcomp(arxa, xodashim)Some dictionaries, like Even Shoshan, indicate if verbs are transitive or intransitive. They could be used as another auxiliary tool (ארך defined intransitive).
ccomp or csubj[:pass]?
The situation now is that the parser shows a strong bias and tends to tag both
ccompandcsubjasccomp, but there is an important syntactic difference between them. While both are often governed by speech or psych verbs which rule content clause arguments,ccompis usually a clause in the object position, andcsubjis actually in the subject position:Example for verbs that govern
objorccomp:הוא אמר [את דברו] –
obj(amar, dvar) הוא אמר [שמחירי הדלק עלו שוב] –ccomp(amar, alu)טענתי [טענות דומות] -
obj(taanti, teanot) טענתי [שרוב הלקוחות שלי מרוצים] -ccomp(taanti, merutsim)היא ציינה [זאת] -
obj(tsiena, zot) היא ציינה [שגישתו של שינדלר לבטהובן הייתה רומנטית מדי] -ccomp(tsiena, romantit)Example for verbs that govern
nsubjorcsubjorcsubj:pass:[קדיש] נאמר לרוב על ידי שליח הציבור–
nsubj:pass(neemar, kadish) עוד נאמר [כי מחירי הדלק עלו שוב] -csubj:pass(neemar, alu)[טענות דומות] נטענו בעבר -
nsubj:pass(nitanu, teanot) נטען [שרוב לקוחות החברה מרוצים] -csubj:pass(nitaan, merutsim)בחוזה צוין [איסור על בעלי חיים] -
nsubj:pass(tsuyan, isur) לעיתים קרובות צוין [שגישתו של שינדלר לבטהובן הייתה רומנטית מדי] -cusbj:pass(tsuyan, romantit)התבררה [התמונה המלאה] -
nsubj(hitbarera, tmuna) התברר [שהמצב לא טוב] -csubj(hitbarer, tov)ccompgovernors andcsubj[:pass]governors:ccompgovernorcsubjorcsubj:passgovernorVoice – Act or Mid?
Middle voice refers to reflexive actions, but with the mention of only one argument (and no external agent implied). התנועה התעכבה - middle התנועה עוכבה – passive
In our scheme it refers also to reciprocal actions: הם התכתבו – middle הם כתבו אחד לשני – active
Note that the semantic volition and stative verbs are not related to the voice issue. Active verbs can be unintentional in nature: ספג, נפל, נפל, מעד, קיבל
They can also be stative: חי, מת, ישב, עמד, שהה. (In our guidelines, בקצהו עומד מנזר יוחנן במדבר is an example of an active verb.)
As for intransitive forms of HIFIL (הפשיר, האדים), I suggest to use Doron's view from the article תרומתו של הבניין למערכת הפועל (an article recommended by Shira and attached to the guidelines). These forms are considered active since they are not reflexive (the middle voice is marked by distinctive morphological forms, HITPAEL and NIFAL):