Dravidian language family through Universal Dependencies lens

TL;DR

This paper explores how to adapt the Universal Dependencies framework to accurately represent the unique morphological and syntactic features of Dravidian languages, which are underrepresented in the current UD support.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of Dravidian languages' features and proposes methods for their annotation within the UD framework, addressing a gap in multilingual NLP resources.

Findings

Identification of key morphological features of Dravidian languages

Proposed annotation strategies for syntactic structures

Enhanced compatibility of Dravidian languages with UD standards

Abstract

The Universal Dependencies (UD) project aims to create a cross-linguistically consistent dependency annotation for multiple languages, to facilitate multilingual NLP. It currently supports 114 languages. Dravidian languages are spoken by over 200 million people across the word, and yet there are only two languages from this family in UD. This paper examines some of the morphological and syntactic features of Dravidian languages and explores how they can be annotated in the UD framework.