The General Ontology for Linguistics Description (gold) wg 4 suggested revisions (as of 3 July 2005) General suggestions Cross refs need to be supported -form/function

The General Ontology for Linguistics Description (GOLD)
WG 4 suggested revisions (as of 3 July 2005)
General suggestions
Cross refs need to be supported
-form/function, morphology/syntax...
-featural distinctions can be more useful than a hierarchy
e.g. Case
{Include prototypical lgs
Higher-level domains or multiple intersecting trees?
Historical Linguistics
Problem: the use of labels based on historical criteria rather than modern
Finnish: "Essive" is historical essive, but not used in the way that current linguists (and GOLD) define an essive
Georgian: historically had an ergative case, today this case is not ergative, but much more complex and essentially unlabelable.
Language variation
Dialectology
Sociolinguistics
Honorifics - Muna (Austronesian), Japanese, Uyghur (Turkic), Maithili (I-E) (Recommend making a separate class, cf. Gender, which can also show up on Vs, Adjs etc)q
Ref: Duranti 1994.
Pragmatics/Discourse (NOT discourse analysis)
Discourse Form (cf. 1.1.3) text unit
Cleft (not mentioned)
Ref: Harris, Alice C. and Lyle Campbell. 1995. Historical syntax in cross-linguistic perspective. Cambridge: CUP.
Prototypical languages: Japanese, Austronesian, NE Caucasian
Particles (x-ref 5.10 Particles)
Affixes
...(form x, y, z,...) - leave these possible forms open
Discourse Function
Topic
Discourse Topic - need concept of topic to anchor references to topic in ontology 6.14.9, 6.14.18, 6.14.26, 6.14.28
Topic hierarchy
Focus (currently under 6.14.9, 6.14, 11) Focus Antipassive Voice
Ref: Terrill, Angela. A Grammar Lavukalebe. Mouton.
Kazenin, Konstantin. I. 1995. Focus constructions inNorth Caucasian languages. Unpublished ms., Moscow State University.
1. Foundational Concepts from GOLD
Classes:
1.1 Sign: [Note: these definitions and structures will be revised.]
A sign is an abstract structure whose instances participate in a linguistic system, or `language'.
1.1.1 MorphologicalUnit:
The form units below the level of the syntactic word, i.e. those form units not participating in syntactic relations, but only morphological relations.
1.1.2 SyntacticUnit:
A form unit that participates in syntactic relations.
{Metacomment: constitutes a hook on which one can hang cross-refs with the morphology
1.1.3 TextUnit:
A text is a linguistic sign above the level of the clause, that is, at the discourse level.
1.2 SemanticUnit:
1.3 LinguisticFeature:
The class of all linguistic features, including morphosyntactic, phonological, and semantic features. Linguistic features are predicated of LinguisticSign and can be used to define their formal, semantic, or phonological behavior.
1.3.1 MorphosyntacticFeature:
The class of all grammatical categories, e.g., tense, aspect, number, grammatical gender, etc. These can be used in the definition of formal behavior of signs.
1.3.2 PhonologicalFeature:
The class of all phonological features. These can be used in the definition of the phonological behavior of signs. (under construction)
1.3.3 SemanticFeature:
The class of all semantic features, e.g., animate, bounded, notional gender, etc. These can be used in the definition of the semantic behavior of signs.
2. Concepts from MorphologicalUnit (from Core)
The class of form units below the level of the syntactic word, i.e., those form units not participating in syntactic relations, but only morphological relations.
Classes:
2.1 BoundRoot:
BoundRoot is the class of bound units whose members are common to a set of derived or inflected units, if any, when all bound units are removed. They are not further analyzable into meaningful elements, being morphologically simple. Also, they designate the principle portion of meaning of the unit to which it belongs (Crystal 1985:268; Hartmann and Stork 1972:199; Pei and Gaynor 1954:187-188; Mish et al. 1990:1023; Matthews 1991:64).
2.2 BoundStem:
BoundStem is the class of units whose members are decomposable into a root or roots and a derivational unit, and are only expressed by bound forms in the language (Crystal 1985:287; Mish et al. 1990:1154).
2.3 Clitic:
Clitic is the class of units which members exhibit syntactic characteristics of a lexical unit, but show evidence of being morphologically bound to another lexical unit, the host, by being unstressed or subject to word-level phonological rules (Crystal 1980:64; Hartmann and Stork 1972:38; Anderson 1985:158; Klavans 1982: xi-xiv, 74-76,83,93-95,100-101; Zwicky 1977:5).
2.3.1 Enclitic:
An enclitic is a clitic that is phonologically joined at the end of a preceding lexical unit to form a single phonological unit (Crystal 1980:64; Pei and Gaynor 1954:65; Mish et al. 1990:409).
2.3.2 Proclitic:
A proclitic is a clitic that precedes the lexical unit to which it is phonologically joined (Crystal 1980:64; Hartmann and Stork 1972:185; Pei and Gaynor 1954:176; Mish et al. 1990:938).
Endoclitics
A clitic that goes inside a word.
Reference: Harris, Alice. 2002. Where in the Word is the Udi Clitic? Language.
2.4 DerivationalUnit:
DerivationalUnit is the class of sublexical units whose members function to derive a new lexical unit from an existing one, by systematically changing the meaning and possibly altering the partOfSpeech feature of the Root or Stem it attaches to (Hartmann and Stork 1972:62; Crystal 1985:89; Mish et al. 1990:342; Bybee 1985:81-82, 99).
2.5 InflectionalUnit:
InflectionalUnit is the class of sublexical unit whose members designate such grammatical categories as tense, aspect, mood etc. The various forms of an InflectionalUnit plus the stem forms a grammatical paradigm and express a grammatical contrast that is obligatory for its stem's part of speech in some given grammatical context. An InflectionalUnit does not alter the partOfSpeech feature of the Root or Stem it attaches to. It is typically located farther from its Root than a derivational unit and produces a predictable, nonidiosyncratic change of meaning (Crystal 1980:184; Hartmann and Stork 1972:112; Mish et al. 1990:620; Bybee 1985:2, 99).
3. Concepts from SyntacticUnit
A form unit that participates in syntactic relations.
Classes:
3.1 SyntacticConstruction:
Syntactic constructions are elements of syntactic structure that consist of more than one syntactic word or phrase in some syntactic configuration (Crystal 1980: 85-86)..
3.1.1 Clause: (cf. also 5.4. for the morphology)
A clause is a minimal sentential unit including a predicate, all arguments of the predicate, and all modifiers of the predicate and the arguments.
3.1.1.1 MainClause:
A main clause is an independent clause that can stand on its own as a sentence. If a sentence contains any embedded clauses, the main clause is understood as the matrix plus the embedded clauses. In the sentence 'John thinks that Mary is sick', 'John thinks that Mary is sick' is the main clause (Crystal 2001: 231).
3.1.1.1 SubordinateClause:
A subordinate clause is a dependent clause that cannot stand on its own as a sentence. A matrix clause combined with a subordinate clause form a clause. In the sentence 'John thinks that Mary is sick', 'Mary is sick' is the subordinate clause.
- Complement subordinate
-Adjunct subordinate
- Relative
Refs: R+R grammar: Coord, Subord, Cosubordination - See Foley and VanValin; Haspelmath, Martin and Ekkehard König, eds. 1995. Converbs in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective: Structure and Meaning of Adverbial Verb forms. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter)
3.1.2 Phase:
A phrase is a syntactic construction that consists of more than one LexicalUnit but lacks the subject - predicate organization of a Clause (Crystal 1980: 232-233; Pei and Gaynor 1954: 169; Pike and Pike 1982: 453; and Mish et al. 1990: 886).
3.2 SyntacticWord:
SyntacticWord is a syntactic unit occupying the lowest position in a syntactic construction. They are expressed as elements, or words, in a language. They are sometimes identifiable according to such criteria as: (1) they are the minimal possible units in a reply; (2) their phonological expressions have features such as a regular stress pattern, and phonological changes conditioned by or blocked at Word boundaries; (3) they are the largest units resistant to insertion of new constituents within their boundaries; or (4) they are the smallest constituents that can be moved within a Sentence without making the Sentence ungrammatical (Hartmann and Stork 1972: 256; Crystal 1980: 168, 383, 384; Cruse 1986: 3536; Mish et al. 1990: 1358; Pike and Pike 1982: 462).
3.2.1 ComplexSyntacticWord:
A syntactic word that is morphologically complex, e.g., a compound, free stem, or inflected lexical item.
3.2.2.1 Compound:
A compound has at least two roots. NOTE: more development here.
3.2.2.2 DerivedWord:
A free form of a language consiting of a root or stem plus at least one derivational unit.
3.2.2.3 FreeStem:
FreeStem is the class of form units whose members are decomposable into a root or roots and a derivational unit. They are expressed by the free forms of the language (Crystal 1985:287; Mish et al. 1990:1154).
3.2.2.4 InflectedWord:
A free form of a language consiting of a root or stem plus at least one inflectional unit.
3.2.2 SimpleSyntacticWord:
Simple syntactic word is the class of formal units whose members are common to a set of derived or inflected units, if any, when all bound units are removed. They are not further analyzable into meaningful elements, being morphologically simple. Also, they designate the principle portion of meaning of the unit to which it belongs (Crystal 1985:268; Hartmann and Stork 1972:199; Pei and Gaynor 1954:187-188; Mish et al. 1990:1023; Matthews 1991:64).
4. Concepts from LinguisticDataStructure
A linguistic data structure is an abstract container for grouping together instances of linguistic data, usually to suit a particular theory or computational implementation. Examples include: feature structures, lexical entries, and paradigms.
Classes:
4.1 Constituent:
A node in a StructuralDescription.
4.2 FeatureConstraint:
A FeatureConstraint is a LinguisticDataStructure which groups a part of speech value with a set of features. Within a FeatureSystem of some language, it indicates which Features may be associated with a particular linguistic unit based on the unit's part of speech.
4.3 FeatureSpecification:
A FeatureSpecification is a data structure that groups together a linguistic feature and with a value (Maxwell, Simons, and Hayashi 2001).
4.3.1 ComplexSpecification:
A ComplexSpecification is a kind of FeatureSpecification whose value must be a FeatureStructure. This class gives a feature system its recursive properites (Maxwell, Simons, and Hayashi 2001).
4.3.2 SimpleSpecification:
A SimpleSpecification is a kind of FeatureSpecification whose value must be a simple linguistic attribute (Maxwell, Simons, and Hayashi 2001).
4.4 FeatureStructure:
A FeatureStructure is a set of one or more FeatureSpecifications. A FeatureStructure is a kind of information structure, a container or data structure, used to group together qualities or features of some object. In a grammatical feature system, a FeatureStructure holds the grammatical information associated with some linguistic unit. In a typed feature system, a FeatureStructure has an associated type, usually a PartOfSpeech. (Shieber 1986; Maxwell, Simons, and Hayashi 2001).
4.5 FeatureSystem:
FeatureSystem is a kind of LinguisticDataStructure that declares what kinds of FeatureStructures exist in the language. It can be assumed that only one feature system exists per language. A FeatureSystem consists of a set of FeatureConstraints (based on Maxwell, Simons, and Hayashi 2001).
4.6 LexicalItem:
The information structure used to encode all the information associated with an entry in a dictionary.
4.7 Lexicon:
A collection of LexicalItems.
4.8 StructuralDescription:
This is a data structure commonly associated with morphosyntactic analysis. It is usually represented graphically as a tree.
5. Concepts from PartOfSpeech
As matters now stand, the individual PartOfSpeech classes are subclasses of SyntacticUnit.
Separate out the notion of connectivity from PoS. Affixes may mark connectivity (FORM/FUNCTION)
Classes:
5.1 Adjective:
An adjective is a part of speech whose members modify nouns. An adjective specifies the attributes of a noun referent. Note: this is one case among many. Adjectives are a class of modifiers (Crystal 1997:8; Mish et al. 1990:56; Payne 1997:63).
Plain
Comparative
Superlative
Elative (comparative and superlative)
Relative adjectives
Refs: Dixon 2004, Wetzer 1996, The Typology of Adjectival Predication. Berlin: Mouton.
(Cross-References: 5.1.5 rel adjectives to a higher level concept Relativity)
5.2 Adposition:
An adposition is a part of speech whose members are of a closed set and occur before or after a complement composed of a noun phrase, noun, pronoun, or clause that functions as a noun phrase and forms a single structure with the complement to express its grammatical and semantic relation to another unit within a clause (Comrie 1989:91; Crystal 1997: 305; Mish et al. 1990:929; Payne 1997:86).
5.2.1 Postposition:
A postposition is an adposition that occurs after its complement (Crystal 1997:300; Payne 1997:86).
5.2.2 Preposition:
A preposition is an adposition that occurs before its complement (Crystal 1997:305; Mish et al. 1990:929; Payne 1997:86).
5.3 Adverb:
An adverb, narrowly defined, is a part of speech whose members modify verbs for such categories as time, manner, place, or direction. An adverb, broadly defined, is is a part of speech whose members modify any constituent class of words other than nouns, such as verbs, adjectives, adverbs, phrases, clauses, or sentences. Under this definition, the possible type of modification depends on the class of the constituent being modified (Crystal 1997:11; Mish et al. 1990:59; Payne 1997:69).
5.4 Connective: (see 3.1 for the clause level)
Also known as a conjunction, a Connective is a class of parts of speech whose members syntactically link words or larger constituents, and expresses a semantic relationship between them. A conjunction is positionally fixed relative to one or more of the elements related by it, thus distinguishing it from constituents such as English conjunctive adverbs (Crystal 1997:81; Mish et al. 1990:277-278).
5.4.1 CoordinatingConnective:
A coordinating connective is a connective that links constituents without syntactically subordinating one to the other (Crystal 1997:93; Mish et al. 1990:288).
5.4.1.1 CorrelativeConnective:
A correlative connective is either of a pair of coordinating conjunctions (connectives) used in ordered fashion. Typically, one is used immediately before each member of a pair of constituents (Crystal 1997:96; Mish et al. 1990:293).
5.4.2 SubordinatingConnective:
A subordinating connective is a connective that links constructions by making one of them a constituent of another. The subordinating conjunction typically marks the incorporated constituent (Crystal 1997:370; Mish et al. 1990:1175).
5.5 Determiner:
A Determiner is a part of speech whose members belong to a class of noun modifiers and express the reference, including quantity, of a noun (Crystal 1997:112; Mish et al. 1990:346).
5.5.1 Article:
An article is a member of a small class of determiners that identify a noun's definite or indefinite reference, and new or given status (Crystal 1997:26; Mish et al. 1990:105).
5.5.1.1 DefiniteArticle:
An definite article is a part of speech whose members refer to a specific, identifiable entity (or class of entities) (Crystal 1997:107).
5.5.1.2 IndefiniteArticle:
An article is a part of speech whose members are used to refer to an entity (or class of entities) which is not capable of specific identification (Crystal 1997:193).
5.5.2 Demonstrative:
A demonstrative is a determiner that is used deictically to indicate a referent's spatial, temporal, or discourse location. A demonstrative functions as a modifier of a noun, or a pronoun (Crystal 1997:312; Mish et al. 1990:338).
5.5.3 Quantifier:
A quantifier is a determiner that expresses a referent's definite or indefinite number or amount. A quantifier functions as a modifier of a noun, or a pronoun (Crystal 1997:317; Mish et al. 1990:963).
5.5.3.1 Numeral:
A numeral is a partOfSpeech whose members function most typically as adjectives or pronouns and express a number, or relation to the number, such as one of the following: quantity, sequence, frequency, fraction (Hartmann and Stork 1972:155; Pei and Gaynor 1954:149).
5.5.3.1.1 CardinalNumeral:
A cardinal numeral is a numeral of the class whose members are considered basic in form, are used in counting, and are used in expressing how many objects are referred to (Crystal 1997:52; Mish et al. 1990:207).
5.5.3.1.2 DistributiveNumeral:
A distributive numeral is a numeral which expresses a group of the number specified.
5.5.3.1.3 MultiplicativeNumeral:
A multiplicative numeral is a numeral that expresses how many fold or how many times (Pei and Gaynor 1954:149; Hartmann and Stork 1972:147).
5.5.3.1.4 OrdinalNumeral:
An ordinal numeral is a numeral belonging to a class whose members designate positions in a sequence (Crystal 1997:272; Mish et al. 1990:831).
5.5.3.1.5 PartitiveNumeral:
A partitive numeral is a numeral that expresses a fraction (Pei and Gaynor 1954:149; Hartmann and Stork 1972:165).
5.6 ExistentialMarker:
An existential marker is a partOfSpeech whose members are found in distinct clause types and which mark a referent's existence (Crystal 1997:142).
5.7 Expletive:
An expletive (also known as a dummy word) is a part of speech whose members have no meaning, but complete a sentence to make it grammatical (Crystal 1997:127; Mish et al. 1990:437).
5.8 Interjective:
An interjection is a part of speech, typically brief in form, such as one syllable or word, whose members are used most often as exclamations or parts of an exclamation. An interjection, typically expressing an emotional reaction, often with respect to an accompanying sentence, is not syntactically related to other accompanying expressions, and may include a combination of sounds not otherwise found in the language (Crystal 1997:200).
5.9 Noun:
A noun is a broad classification of parts of speech which include substantives and nominals (Crystal 1997:371; Mish et al. 1990:1176).
5.9.1 Nominal:
A nominal is a partOfSpeech whose members differ grammatically from a substantive but which functions as one (Crystal 1997:260; Mish et al. 1990:801).
5.9.1.1 Gerund:
A part of speech derived from a verb and used as a noun, usually restricted to non-finite forms of the verb (Crystal 1997: 279).
5.9.2 Substantive:
A substantive is a member of the syntactic class in which the names of physical, concrete, relatively unchanging experiences are most typically found whose members may act as subjects and objects, and most of whose members have inherently determined grammatical gender (in languages which inflect for gender) (Crystal 1997:264; Mish et al. 1990:808; GivÃƒÂ³n 1984:51-52; Payne 1997:33).
5.10 Particle:
A particle is a part of speech whose members do not belong to one of the main classes of words, is invariable, and typically has grammatical or pragmatic meaning.
5.10.1 NominalParticle:
A nominal particle is a member of a closed class of particles that co-occur with nouns.
5.10.1.1 Classifier:
A classifier is a partOfSpeech whose members express the classification of a noun (Crystal 1997:61; Mish et al. 1990:246; Payne 1997:107).
5.10.2 QuestionParticle:
A particle is a part of speech whose members signal a yes/no question (Payne 1997:296).
5.10.3 VerbalParticle:
A verbal particle is a member of a closed class of particles which co-occur with some verbs to form phrasal verbs. In some languages, verbal particles are identical to certain adpositions.
5.11 Prenoun:
An element which may be compounded to the front of a noun to signal information such as size, color, etc. (Valentine 2001: 152-154).
5.12 Preverb:
An element which may be compounded to the front of a verb, to signal information such as tense, direction, etc. (Valentine 2001: 154-158).
5.13 ProForm:
A ProForm is a partOfSpeech whose members usually substitute for other constituents, including phrases, clauses, or sentences, and whose meaning is recoverable from the linguistic or extralinguistic context (Schachter 1985:24-25; Crystal 1997:310).
5.13.1 InterrogativeProform:
An InterrogativeProform is a Proform that is used in questions to stand for the item questioned.
5.13.2 Proadjective:
A Proadjective is a proForm that substitutes for an adjective or adjective phrase.
5.13.3 Proadverb:
A Proadverb is a Proform that substitutes for an adverb or other expression having an adverbial function.
5.13.4 Pronoun:
A Pronoun is a ProForm which functions like a noun and substitutes for a noun or noun phrase (Crystal 1997:312; Mish et al. 1990:942).
5.13.4.1 IndefinitePronoun:
An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun that belongs to a class whose members indicate indefinite reference (Crystal 1997: 312; Mish et al. 1990:612).
5.13.4.2 PersonalPronoun:
A personal pronoun is a pronoun that expresses a distinction of person deixis (Mish et al. 1990:878).
5.13.4.2.1 EmphaticPronoun:
An emphatic pronoun is a personal pronoun that is used to emphasize its referent.
5.13.4.2.2 PossessivePronoun:
A possessive pronoun is a pronoun that expresses ownership and relationships like ownership, such as kinship, and other forms of association (Crystal 1997:312; Mish et al. 1990:918).
5.13.4.2.3 ReflexivePronoun:
A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that has coreference with the subject (Mish et al. 1990:990).
5.13.4.3 ReciprocalPronoun:
A reciprocal pronoun is a pronoun that expresses a mutual feeling or action among the referents of a plural subject (Crystal 1997:323; Mish et al. 1990:982).
5.13.4.4 RelativePronoun:
A relative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause, functions grammatically within the relative clause, and is coreferential to the word modified by the relative clause (Crystal 1997:329).
could be put somewhere else but this is where we think
Sound symbolism
Ideophones.
Refs: Angela Bartens, 2003. Ideophones and Sound Symbolism in Atlantic Creoles. Suomil.... (Finnish Acad.scis)
Erhard Foeltz, Kilian Hatz Ideophones, Benjamins.
Onomatopoeia.
5.14 Verb:
A Verb is a part of speech whose members typically signal events and actions; constitute, singly or in a phrase, a minimal predicate in a clause; govern the number and types of other constituents which may occur in the clause; and, in inflectional languages, may be inflected for tense, aspect, voice, modality, or agreement with other constituents in person, number, or grammatical gender (Crystal 1997:409; Mish et al. 1990:1309; Givon 1984:52; Payne 1997:47).
5.14.1 Transitivity
5.14.1.1 DitransitiveVerb:
A ditransitive verb is a verb that takes two objects (Crystal 1997:397).
5.14.2 IntransitiveVerb:
An intransitive verb is a verb that does not [at the moment!] take a direct object, and describes a property, state, or situation involving only one participant (Crystal 1997:397; Payne 1997:171).
Unergative and Active intransitive
Unaccusative and Active intransitive
5.14.3 TransitiveVerb:
A transitive verb is a verb that takes a direct object, and describes a relation between two participants (Crystal 1997:397; Mish et al. 1990:1254; Payne 1997:171).
5.14.4 Monotransitive
5.14.2 ??Semantic Arguments
5.14.2.1 Sense verbs,
5.14.2.2. Action verbs....
Def: Arguments realized based on verbal arguments rather than syntactic configurations; semantically not syntactially driven.
Ref: Autotype, Hidden Syntax
6. Concepts from MorphosyntacticFeature (listed alphabetically)
Class:
6.1 AspectFeature:
Aspect is the grammatical encoding of various characteristics of the event referred to in an utterance. Aspect does not form a semantically contiguous class (Comrie 1976; Bybee 1985; Sasse 2002).
Any
|
Imperfective
|
Perfective
|
Semelfactive
|
Other
|
Phasal
|
Quantitative
|
Inceptive
|
Continuative
|
Progressive
|
Terminative
|
Habitual
|
Durative
|
Iterative
|
|
Frequentative
|
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Figure 1. Entailment relations among Aspect feature values
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