Inflection Classes and affix slots

[Jonathan Dailey]

Greetings,

We are dealing with languages that have noun classes.  I am trying to use the affix template system to show that suffixes occur on the nouns.  The problem is that once a slot has a suffix, it always has that suffix.  So when I go thorough adding suffixes to the other noun classes they all show up in each slot.  The slot is the same for each class (person, number, case) but the affixes should be different.  What other way is there to deal with this?

The only work around that I see is to have a separate slot for each class.  So Class 1 has inflection template with slot named C1 PNC and Class 2 has an inflection template called C2 PNC, etc. 

looking forward to hearing your wisdom,

Jonathan

[Andy Black]

On 2/12/2016 11:47 AM, Jonathan Dailey wrote:

Greetings,

We are dealing with languages that have noun classes.  I am trying to use the affix template system to show that suffixes occur on the nouns.  The problem is that once a slot has a suffix, it always has that suffix.  So when I go thorough adding suffixes to the other noun classes they all show up in each slot.  The slot is the same for each class (person, number, case) but the affixes should be different.  What other way is there to deal with this?

Yes.  First, look at section 2.1.2.6 "Inflection Classes" in the intro to parsing document (Help menu item / Resources / Introduction to Parsing...).

Second, try this:

1. In Grammar / Category Edit / Noun, create an Inflection Class for each inflection class you have.
2. Create just one affix entry for each person, number. case combination and mark the affix as being inflectional
   
3. In each of those, create as many allomorphs as there are forms for the various inflection classes.
4. Tag each allomorph with the inflection class(es) it belongs with.  (You may have to click on Show Hidden Fields to see the Inflection Classes field.)
5. Use Bulk Edit Entries / List Choice to set each noun stem to its appropriate inflection class (you will probably have to add the Inflection Classes (Stem) column).
6. You should now only need one noun affix template that refers to the affix entries that now contain the various allomorphs for all the inflection classes.

If you use the parser, it should correctly parse nouns with the correct allomorph for each inflection class.

--Andy

The only work around that I see is to have a separate slot for each class.  So Class 1 has inflection template with slot named C1 PNC and Class 2 has an inflection template called C2 PNC, etc. 

looking forward to hearing your wisdom,

Jonathan

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[Jeff Shrum]

If I can paraphrase what Andy is saying it is that you have to assign each affix and noun root  to its inflectional class, then the parser will only match affixes with roots of the same inflectional class.  Should you have allomorphs of two or more affixes that have the same surface form, there are ways to deal with that.  Either by phonological environments or creating ad hoc rules prohibiting the parser from making certain parses. Ad hoc rules should be used sparingly.

 

Jeff Shrum

SIL International

Language Technology in Use

Dallas, TX

USA

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[maxwell]

On 2/12/2016 2:40 PM, Jeff Shrum wrote:
> If I can paraphrase what Andy is saying it is that you have to assign

> each affix and noun root to its inflectional class...

The answers so far have assumed that in the original posting, "noun
class" refers to inflection class (and certainly the subject line
implied that). An inflection class is an arbitrary class that a word of
a given part of speech in some language belongs to, which determines the
shape (allomorph) of inflectional affixes on that word. The inflection
class by definition has no effect outside the word itself, e.g. there's
no agreement between a noun's inflection class and that of an adjective
that modifies it, nor between the noun and a verb it agrees with.

In addition to nouns, adjectives can have inflection classes, as can
verbs (and perhaps other parts of speech in some languages). Examples
of languages with verbal inflection classes on verbs are the Romance
languages, e.g. the ar/er/ir classes of Spanish verbs.

Affix forms that belong to different inflection classes are treated in
the FLEx model (and in most theories of inflectional morphology) as
simply being allomorphs with arbitrary (= non-phonological) conditioning.

But another meaning of the term "noun class" is a sort of extended
gender system, like the noun classes of Bantu languages. Unlike
inflection classes, such a noun may trigger agreement in class with an
adjective that modifies it (or replaces it), or in a verb with which it
agrees. Since the classes of such words are visible outside the word
(and sometimes have semantic implications), the FLEx model (and again,
theories of inflectional morphology) treat affixes in different classes
as distinct affixes, with distinct morphosyntactic features.

For more about noun classes as (sort of) extended gender systems, the
Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun_class) is not bad
(and there's a discussion of noun classes vs. declension classes in the
associated Talk page). The Wikipedia article on declension
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declension) is, IMHO, somewhat less
enlightening, and in particular covers the notion of declension as a
paradigm more than the question of declension class.
--
Mike Maxwell
max...@umiacs.umd.edu
"I cannot believe that our existence in this universe
is a mere quirk of fate, an accident of history, an
incidental blip in the great cosmic drama. Our
involvement is too intimate. The physical species
Homo may count for nothing, but the existence of
mind in some organism on some planet in the universe
is surely a fact of fundamental significance. Through
conscious beings the universe has generated
self-awareness." --Paul Davies

[Andy Black]

On 2/13/2016 2:56 PM, maxwell wrote:
> ...

> But another meaning of the term "noun class" is a sort of extended

> gender system, like the noun classes of Bantu languages. ...

If what you have are indeed Bantu noun classes, please see
http://lingtran.net/Modeling+Bantu+Noun+Classes for ideas on what to do.

--Andy

[Jonathan Dailey]

My understanding so far: 

Inflectional affix templates demonstrate the grammatical category to affix correlation and their order and optionality.  If grammatical categories have no inflectional classes then this is the pool of affixes that can be drawn from to show inflection.  The templates do not demonstrate correlation between classes and affixes.  

Inflectional Classes show lexeme to affix correlation.  

Inflectional Features show the features by which a category can be inflected by affixation.

Does this seem like a good explanation of these terms and how they function (within FLEx)?

Jonathan

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