By the late 1970s, phonologists, and later morphologists, had departed from a linear approach for describing morphophonological operations to a nonlinear one. Computational models, however, remain faithful to the linear model, making it very difficult, if not impossible, to implement the morphology of languages whose morphology is nonconcatanative. This study aims at presenting a computational system that counters the development in linguistics. It provides a detailed computational analysis of the complex morphophonological phenomena found in Semitic languages based on linguistically motivated models.
Author(s): George Anton Kiraz
Series: Studies in Natural Language Processing
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 195
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Dedication......Page 9
Contents......Page 11
Preface......Page 15
Acknowledgments......Page 17
Dedication......Page 18
Grammatical Features......Page 19
Sigla......Page 20
Transliteration of Semitic......Page 21
Errata and Corrigenda......Page 23
1.1 Linguistic Preliminaries......Page 25
1.1.1.1 Basic Definitions......Page 26
1.1.1.2 Linear versus Nonlinear Morphology......Page 27
1.1.1.3 Between Phonology and Syntax......Page 29
1.1.2.1 Sets......Page 30
1.1.2.3 Languages, Expressions, and Grammars......Page 32
1.1.3.1 Context-Free Grammars......Page 35
1.1.3.2 Unification......Page 36
1.1.3.3 Unification-Based Context-Free Grammars......Page 38
1.2.1 Computational Morphology......Page 39
1.2.2 Finite-State Automata......Page 40
1.2.3 Regular Operations and Closure Properties......Page 43
1.2.4.2 Rewrite Rules......Page 44
1.2.4.4 Putting Things Together......Page 47
1.3.1 The Semitic Family......Page 49
1.3.2.2 Verb Morphology......Page 51
1.3.3 The Writing System......Page 53
1.4 Further Reading......Page 54
2 Survey of Semitic Nonlinear Morphology......Page 56
2.1 The CV Approach......Page 57
2.2 The Moraic Approach......Page 61
2.3 The Affixational Approach......Page 64
2.4 The Broken Plural......Page 65
2.5.1 Morphotactics......Page 68
2.5.2 Phonological Effects......Page 69
3.1.1 Kay and Kaplan’s Cascade Model (1983)......Page 71
3.1.2 Koskenniemi’s Two-Level Model (1983)......Page 73
3.2.2 Black et al.’s Formalism (1987)......Page 75
3.2.3 Ruessink’s Formalism (1989)......Page 76
3.2.4 Pulman and Hepple’s Feature Representation (1993)......Page 77
3.2.5 Carter’s Note on Obligatory Rules (1995)......Page 80
3.2.6 Redefining Obligatoriness: Grimley-Evans, Kiraz, and Pulman (1996)......Page 81
4.1 Kay’s Approach to Arabic (1987)......Page 83
4.2 Kataja and Koskenniemi’s Approach to Akkadian (1988)......Page 85
4.3 Beesley’s Approach to Arabic (1989, 1990, 1991)......Page 86
4.4 Kornai’s Linear Coding (1991)......Page 87
4.5 Bird and Ellison’s One-Level Approach (1992, 1994)......Page 88
4.6 Wiebe’s Multilinear Coding (1992)......Page 89
4.8 Narayanan and Hashem’s Three-Level Approach (1993)......Page 90
4.9 Beesley’s Intersection Approach......Page 91
4.10 Where to Next?......Page 92
5.1 Overall Description......Page 93
5.2.1 Intuitive Description......Page 95
5.2.2 Formal Description......Page 96
5.3.1 Intuitive Description......Page 97
5.3.2.1 String Tuples......Page 99
5.3.2.2 Partitions......Page 100
5.3.2.3 N-Way Prefixes and Suffixes......Page 101
5.3.2.5 Rewrite Rules......Page 102
5.3.2.7 Grammars......Page 103
5.4.1 Regular Morphotactics......Page 104
5.4.2 Context-Free Morphotactics......Page 106
5.5.2 Grammatical Features......Page 110
5.5.2.1 Intuitive Description......Page 111
5.5.2.2 Formal Description......Page 112
6 Modeling Semitic Nonlinear Morphology......Page 114
6.1 The CV Approach......Page 115
6.1.1 Lexicon......Page 116
6.1.2 Rewrite Rules......Page 118
6.2 The Moraic Approach......Page 121
6.2.1 Lexicon......Page 122
6.2.2 Rewrite Rules......Page 123
6.3 The Affixational Approach......Page 126
6.3.1 Lexicon......Page 127
6.3.2 Rewrite Rules......Page 128
6.4 The Broken Plural......Page 130
6.4.1 Trisyllabic Plurals......Page 131
6.4.2 Bisyllabic Plurals......Page 133
6.5.1 Linear versus Nonlinear Grammars......Page 134
6.5.1.1 Inconveniences of Nonlinear Grammar in Describing Linear Operations......Page 135
6.5.2 Vocalization......Page 138
6.5.3 Diachronic Exceptions......Page 139
6.5.4 Script-Related Issues......Page 140
7.1 Mathematical Preliminaries......Page 145
7.1.1 Multitape Finite-State Automata......Page 146
7.1.2 Regular Relations......Page 147
7.1.3.2 Insertion and Removal......Page 148
7.1.3.4 Cross Product......Page 150
7.1.3.5 Production of Same-Length Tuples......Page 152
7.1.3.7 Composition......Page 153
7.2 Compiling the Lexicon Component......Page 154
7.3 Compiling the Rewrite Rules Component......Page 156
7.3.1 Preprocessing Rewrite Rules......Page 157
7.3.1.2 Feasible Tuples......Page 158
7.3.1.3 Equal-Length Contexts......Page 159
7.3.2.1 First Phase: Accepting Centers......Page 160
7.3.2.2 Second Phase: Optional Rules......Page 161
7.3.2.3 Third Phase: Obligatory Rules......Page 163
7.3.3 Incorporating Grammatical Features......Page 165
7.4 Compiling the Morphotactic Component......Page 166
7.5 Illustration from Syriac......Page 167
7.5.2 First Phase: Accepting Centers......Page 168
7.5.3 Second Phase: Optional Rules......Page 169
7.5.4 Third Phase: Obligatory Rules......Page 170
8.1 Beyond Semitic......Page 173
8.2 Directions for Further Research......Page 174
8.2.2 Semantics in Semitic Morphology......Page 175
8.2.4 Linguistic Research......Page 176
8.3 Futur of Semitic Computational Linguistics......Page 177
References......Page 179
Quotation Credits......Page 185
Language, Word, and Morpheme Index......Page 187
Name Index......Page 190
Subject Index......Page 191
