Supplementary Instructions forTokenization and Part-of-Speech Annotation
Guidelines for Khmer (Cambodian)(Version 0.2, August 2018)
Chenchen Ding1, Hour Kaing1, Kamthong Ley1,2,Masao Utiyama1, Eiichiro Sumita1
1
Advanced Translation Technology Laboratory, ASTREC, NICT, Japan
2
National Institute of Posts, Telecommunications and ICT, Cambodia
chenchen.ding@nict.go.jp
1.

Introduction
This is a supplementary document for Tokenization and Part-of-Speech Annotation Guidelines for Khmer (Cambodian). Further modified NOVA tags and instructions on confusingcases are provided.
The basic NOVA tags used in preliminarily annotated Khmer texts can be further modified
to add more detailed information. The further introduced tags are listed in Table 1. Generally, a “-” is added to basic NOVA tags to further address the functionality of a token, i.e.,
to distinguish functional tokens from content tokens.
Table 1. Modified basic tags in NOVA
Tag Description
n- general pronouns, including personal and demonstrative
v- grammaticalized auxiliary verbs modifying other content verbs
a- general functional noun-modifiers, including possessive and demonstrativeo- general particles, e.g., negators, conjunctions, mood particles, etc.
The usage of “n-”, “v-”, “a-”, and “o-” tags are illustrated in following sections. For all
the examples illustrated, the tags are attached to corresponding tokens by an underline(“_”).

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2.

Modification for Single Tokens

2.1. Usage of “n-” Tag-Example 1
Annotated Khmer:
English gloss:
English translation:ត ើឯងចូ លចិ តវិ ជ្ជាមុខអ្វ ី?
_.

_o- _n- _v[v_n]v _n[n _n]n_nn/aheart

what ?

youto-enter

fieldsubject

What subject do you like?

note: “ឯង” is a personal pronoun.
Common personal pronouns are: “ខ្ញុំ”, “ឯង”, “វា”, “គា ់”,“ត ើង”, and “តេ”.

-Example 2
Annotated Khmer:
English gloss:
English translation:ត េះ_n-ជ_vចុំណែក_n

ឯង_a-។_.

thisto-bepartyou.

This is your part.

note: “ត េះ” is a demonstrative pronoun.
Common demonstrative pronouns are “ត េះ” and “តេះ”.

2.2. Usage of “v-” Tag
The “v-” tag is used for grammaticalized verbal tokens modifying other content verbal tokens.
The grammaticalized verb can precede or follow the content verb it modifies. When the content verb is transitive, the directed object may be inserted in between the two verbs.

-Example 3
Annotated Khmer:
English gloss:
English translation:ខ្ញុំ_n- បា _v- ត ៀ _v
Ito-getភាសា_n[n ណខែ _n]n ។_.

to-learn language

Khmer.

I learnt the Khmer language.

note: “បា ” is grammaticalized as a past tense marker.
Common pre-positioned grammaticalized verbs are:“តោ”,វ“េឺ”, and “ប ត ”.

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-

Example 4
Annotated Khmer:
English gloss:
English translation:ងត្វ ីឱ្យខ្ញុំ

_n-_v_v-

sheto-doto-letពិបាកចិ ត។_n- _v[v_n]v_.

Iheart.

to-suffer

She makes me unhappy.

note: “ឱ្យ” is grammaticalized as a causative marker.
Common post-positioned grammaticalized verbs are:“តៅ”,វ“តៅ”,វ“តោ-”,វ“ត ើង”, andវ“ថា”,Example 5
Annotated Khmer:
English gloss:
English translation:គា ់_n-ផ្តល់_v

ជុំ ួ_nដល់
_v-

ខ្ញុំ
_n-។
_.

heto-offer

supportto-reachI.

He offers me the support.

note: “ដល់” is a grammaticalized verb modifying “ផ្តល”់ .
The directed objected “ជុំ ួ” is in between them.

2.3. Usage of “a-” Tag-

Example 6
Annotated Khmer:
English gloss:
English translation:ផ្ទេះ_nខ្ញុំ
សង់_a- _v

house myតលើ_oto-build overវាលណរស_n[n _n]nfield។_.

paddy .

My house is built in the rice field.

note: “ខ្ញុំ” is a possessive adjective modifying “ផ្ទេះ”.

-Example 7
Annotated Khmer:
English gloss:
English translation:តបសកកមែ_nត េះ_a-មា_v

សា ៈសុំខា ់_nណាស់
_o

។
_.

missionthisto-haveimportancevery.

This mission is very important.

note: “ត េះ” is a demonstrative adjective modifying “តបសកកមែ ”.

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2.4. Usage of “o-” Tag-Example 8
Annotated Khmer:
English gloss:
English translation:តររេះ_o- ខ្ញុំ_n- មិ _o- ដឹង_v តេ_obecause

Inotto-gon/abecause I don’t know

note: “តររេះ” is a subordinating conjunction.
“មិ ” is a particle for negation.
“តេ” is a final particle for negated sentences.
-

Example 9
Annotated Khmer:
English gloss:
English translation:ត ើ_o- អ្ន ក_n- សុខ_v[a សបា _v]v តេ_o- ?_.
n/ayouhappy

to-be-happy

n/a?

How are you?

note: “ត ើ” is an interrogative particle.
“តេ” is a final particle for interrogative sentences.

3.

Modification for Multi-Token Compounds
Table 2. Examples of two-token compound pronouns
Annotated Khmer

English gloss

1st-token

2nd-token

1st-token 2nd-token

ង_n-[n-ខ្ញុំ_n-]n-she Iខ្ញុំ_n-[n-បាេ_o]n-I yesខល ួ _n-[nគា _់ n-]n-oneself he→I

ូប_n-[nគា _់ n-]n-body he→ heអ្ន ក_n-[n-រសី_n]n-youfemale→ you (female)តោក_n-[n-រសី_n]n-youfemale→ you (female)តោក_n-[n-រប ុស_n]n-youmale→ you (male)ពួ ក_n-[nខ្ញុំ_n-]n-groupI→ we (exclusive)ពួ ក_n-[n ត ើង_n-]n-group

we→ we (inclusive)ទ ុំង_n-[oត េះ_n-]n-

all thiscompound→ I (female)→ I (male)note
genderemphasis

politenessplurality→ these4

Table 3. Examples of two-token compound auxiliary verbs
Annotated Khmer
1st-token

English gloss

2nd-token

1st-token

2nd-token

compoundរគា ់_v-[v-ណ _o]v- to-be-enough only

→ to-be-justតចេះ_v-[v-ណ _o]v-

to-know only

→ to-be-always

to-start to-start→ to-start-toចាប់_v-[v- តផ្ដើម_v-]v-

Table 4. Examples of two-token compound conjunctions and negation particles
Annotated Khmer

English gloss

1st-token

2nd-token

1st-token 2nd-token compoundរបសិ _o-[o-តបើ_o-]o-មិ _o-[o- ណម _o]oតររេះ_o-[o-4.

ណ _o]o-if if→ ifnot→ notreallybecause only

→ because

Confusion Cases-Example 10
Annotated Khmer:
English gloss:
English translation:

តៅ_nyouិយា _vsayតាម_v-

តា_n-។_.

followI.

You repeat after me.

note: “តៅ” (grandson) and “តា” (grandpa) are nouns.
Here they are used as pronouns for “you” and “me”.
-Example 11
Annotated Khmer:
English gloss:
English translation:

តោក_n[n តដិ ី _n ោ ់ដឺសុ _n]nMr.

DavidAndersen

Mr. David Andersen

note: “តោក” is a pronoun for “you”.
Here it is used as a title.

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-Example 12
Annotated Khmer:ផ្ទេះ_nបស់_oខ្ញុំ_n-English gloss:

houseofmyEnglish translation:

my house

note: “ខ្ញុំ” is considered as a pronoun.
“ បស់” is a possessive marker.

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