German Lexical Paradigms

Last update: 2007-06-08 17:51:31 CEST



Produced by gfdoc - a rudimentary GF document generator. (c) Aarne Ranta (aarne@cs.chalmers.se) 2002 under GNU GPL.

Aarne Ranta, Harald Hammarström and Björn Bringert2003--2007

This is an API for the user of the resource grammar for adding lexical items. It gives functions for forming expressions of open categories: nouns, adjectives, verbs.

Closed categories (determiners, pronouns, conjunctions) are accessed through the resource syntax API, Structural.gf.

The structure of functions for each word class C is the following: first we give a handful of patterns that aim to cover all cases, from the most regular (with just one argument) to the worst. The name of this function is mkC.

There is also a module IrregGer which covers irregular verbs.

    resource ParadigmsGer = open 
      (Predef=Predef), 
      Prelude, 
      MorphoGer,
      CatGer
      in {

Parameters

To abstract over gender names, we define the following identifiers.

    oper
      Gender    : Type ; 
    
      masculine : Gender ;
      feminine  : Gender ;
      neuter    : Gender ;

To abstract over case names, we define the following.

      Case       : Type ; 
    
      nominative : Case ;
      accusative : Case ;
      dative     : Case ;
      genitive   : Case ;

To abstract over number names, we define the following.

      Number    : Type ; 
    
      singular  : Number ;
      plural    : Number ;

Nouns

    mkN : overload {

The regular heuristics recognizes some suffixes, from which it guesses the gender and the declension: e, ung, ion give the feminine with plural ending -n, -en, and the rest are masculines with the plural -e (without Umlaut).

      mkN : (Stufe : Str) -> N ;

The 'almost regular' case is much like the information given in an ordinary dictionary. It takes the singular and plural nominative and the gender, and infers the other forms from these.

      mkN : (Bild,Bilder : Str) -> Gender -> N ;

Worst case: give all four singular forms, two plural forms (others + dative), and the gender.

      mkN : (x1,_,_,_,_,x6 : Str) -> Gender -> N
                           -- mann, mann, manne, mannes, männer, männern
      };

Relational nouns need a preposition. The most common is von with the dative, and there is a special case for regular nouns.

      mkN2 : overload {
        mkN2 : Str -> N2 ;
        mkN2 : N ->   N2 ; 
        mkN2 : N -> Prep -> N2
        } ;   

Use the function mkPrep or see the section on prepositions below to form other prepositions. Some prepositions are moreover constructed in StructuralGer.

Three-place relational nouns (die Verbindung von x nach y) need two prepositions.

      mkN3 : N -> Prep -> Prep -> N3 ;

Proper names and noun phrases

Proper names, with an s genitive and other cases like the nominative, are formed from a string. Final s (Johannes-Johannes) is taken into account.

      mkPN : overload {
        mkPN : Str -> PN ;

If only the genitive differs, two strings are needed.

        mkPN : (nom,gen : Str) -> PN ;

In the worst case, all four forms are needed.

        mkPN : (nom,acc,dat,gen : Str) -> PN
        } ;

Adjectives

      mkA : overload {

The regular adjective formation works for most cases, and includes variations such as teuer - teurer, böse - böser.

        mkA : Str -> A ;

In the worst case, adjectives need three forms - one for each degree.

        mkA : (gut,besser,beste : Str) -> A -- gut,besser,beste 
    
        };

Invariable adjective are a special case.

      invarA : Str -> A ;            -- prima

Two-place adjectives are formed by adding a preposition to an adjective.

      mkA2 : A -> Prep -> A2 ;

Adverbs

Adverbs are formed from strings.

      mkAdv : Str -> Adv ;

Prepositions

A preposition is formed from a string and a case.

      mkPrep : Str -> Case -> Prep ;

Often just a case with the empty string is enough.

      accPrep : Prep ;
      datPrep : Prep ;
      genPrep : Prep ;

A couple of common prepositions (always with the dative).

      von_Prep : Prep ;
      zu_Prep  : Prep ;

Verbs

    mkV : overload {

Regular verbs (weak verbs) need just the infinitive form.

      mkV : (führen : Str) -> V ;

Irregular verbs use Ablaut and, in the worst cases, also Umlaut.

      mkV : (sehen,sieht,sah,sähe,gesehen : Str) -> V ;

The worst-case constructor needs six forms:

      mkV : (geben, gibt, gib, gab, gäbe, gegeben : Str) -> V ; 

To add a movable suffix e.g. auf(fassen).

      mkV : Str -> V -> V
    };

To remove the past participle prefix ge, e.g. for the verbs prefixed by be-, ver-.

      no_geV : V -> V ;

To change the auxiliary from haben (default) to sein and vice-versa.

      seinV  : V -> V ;
      habenV : V -> V ;

Reflexive verbs can take reflexive pronouns of different cases.

      reflV  : V -> Case -> V ;

Two-place verbs

    mkV2 : overload {

Two-place verbs with a preposition.

      mkV2 : V -> Prep -> V2 ;

Two-place verbs with direct object (accusative, transitive verbs).

      mkV2 : V -> V2 ;

Two-place verbs with object in the given case.

      mkV2 : V -> Case -> V2
    };

Three-place verbs

Three-place (ditransitive) verbs need two prepositions, of which the first one or both can be absent.

      mkV3     : V -> Prep -> Prep -> V3 ;  -- sprechen, mit, über
      dirV3    : V -> Prep -> V3 ;          -- senden,(accusative),nach
      accdatV3 : V -> V3 ;                  -- give,accusative,dative

Other complement patterns

Verbs and adjectives can take complements such as sentences, questions, verb phrases, and adjectives.

      mkV0  : V -> V0 ;
      mkVS  : V -> VS ;
      mkV2S : V -> Prep -> V2S ;
      mkVV  : V -> VV ;
      mkV2V : V -> Prep -> V2V ;
      mkVA  : V -> VA ;
      mkV2A : V -> Prep -> V2A ;
      mkVQ  : V -> VQ ;
      mkV2Q : V -> Prep -> V2Q ;
    
      mkAS  : A -> AS ;
      mkA2S : A -> Prep -> A2S ;
      mkAV  : A -> AV ;
      mkA2V : A -> Prep -> A2V ;

Notice: categories V2S, V2V, V2A, V2Q are in v 1.0 treated just as synonyms of V2, and the second argument is given as an adverb. Likewise AS, A2S, AV, A2V are just A. V0 is just V.

      V0, V2S, V2V, V2A, V2Q : Type ;
      AS, A2S, AV, A2V : Type ;