SYNTAGMA. A Linguistic Approach to Parsing

TL;DR

SYNTAGMA is a rule-based, language-independent parsing system that integrates syntactic and semantic resources, emphasizing argument structure and capable of handling complex configurations for improved parsing accuracy.

Contribution

The paper introduces SYNTAGMA, a novel rule-based parser combining theoretical insights from Generative Grammar with practical parsing strategies and semantic disambiguation.

Findings

Effective handling of complex syntactic structures

Integration of semantic networks for disambiguation

Flexible, rule-driven parsing process

Abstract

SYNTAGMA is a rule-based parsing system, structured on two levels: a general parsing engine and a language specific grammar. The parsing engine is a language independent program, while grammar and language specific rules and resources are given as text files, consisting in a list of constituent structuresand a lexical database with word sense related features and constraints. Since its theoretical background is principally Tesniere's Elements de syntaxe, SYNTAGMA's grammar emphasizes the role of argument structure (valency) in constraint satisfaction, and allows also horizontal bounds, for instance treating coordination. Notions such as Pro, traces, empty categories are derived from Generative Grammar and some solutions are close to Government&Binding Theory, although they are the result of an autonomous research. These properties allow SYNTAGMA to manage complex syntactic configurations and well known weak points in parsing engineering. An important resource is the semantic network, which is used in disambiguation tasks. Parsing process follows a bottom-up, rule driven strategy. Its behavior can be controlled and fine-tuned.