LkbUpdates

Overview

Since the publication of Copestake (2002), the general documentation of the LKB system (and its approach to using typed feature structures in grammar writing), the software has been continuously extended. Although we have in general attempted to preserve the documented functionality and interfaces, there is an array of additional facilities that users may find useful. The following is an overview of some of the major new components. All of them are optional, in the sense that basic grammar writing and processing can be achieved without using extra facilities; in fact, some of the new components target `power' users (building very large-scale grammars) and specific applications (e.g. machine translation).

Lexical Database Integration

Versions of the LKB since about 2004 come with an optional interface to an external database storing the lexicon. See the LkbLexicalDb page for more information and instructions on how to set up the database and maintaining it.

XML-Based Interface to External (Morphological) Preprocessor

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<segment>
  <token form="la" from="0" path="1" to="2">
    <analysis cat="articolo" format="" inflection="fem_sing"
              probability="0.0" stem="det_art" tag="articolo"/>
    <analysis cat="clitico" format="" inflection="fem_sing"
              probability="1.0" stem="la_cli" tag="clitico"/>
  </token>
  <token form="il" from="3" path="1" to="5">
    <analysis cat="articolo" format="" inflection="masc_sing"
              probability="1.0" stem="det_art" tag="articolo"/>
  </token>
  <token form="letto" from="6" path="1" to="11">
    <analysis cat="nome-maschile" format="" inflection="masc_sing"
              probability="1.0" stem="letto_nm" tag="nome-masc-sing"/>
    <analysis cat="verbo" format="" inflection="partic_passato_masc_sing"
              probability="0.0" stem="leggere_v" tag="verbo-partpass"/>
  </token>
  <token form="cigola" from="12" path="1" to="18">
    <analysis cat="verbo" format="" inflection="indic_pres_third_sing"
              probability="1.0" stem="cigolare_v" tag="verbo-fin"/>
  </token>
</segment>

Finite-State Preprocessing

MRS Rewrite System (Transfer Component)

Robust Minimal Recursion Semantics