North Sami NLP Grammar

Finite state and Constraint Grammar based analysers, proofing tools and other resources

View the project on GitHub giellalt/lang-sme

North Sámi (sme) fst guide for beginners

These are notes from someone learning how to add new entries to the finite state lexicon files for North Sámi. This includes adding new lemmata and morphological information needed to get the analyzer and the generator to work correctly. This includes adding surface- and underlying information, information about compounding, morpho-phonology, inflection paradigm and grammaticality.

How to add new words to lexc files:

Adding faktuvra

The following ones exist already:

fáktor+N+Err/Orth+Sem/Semcon:faktora STAHTA ; fáktor+N+Sem/Semcon:fáktor GAHPIR ; fáktor+N+Err/Orth+Sem/Semcon:faktu STRUKTUR ;

search uvra search ktuvra take away vra since it’s already in the continuation lexicon STRUKTUR

DGT-vuođđostruktuvra+N+CmpNP/First+Sem/Dummytag:DGT-vuođđo#struktu STRUKTUR ;

What if something does not have consonant gradation?

Juvdu:Juvºdu MARJA-U-plc ; becomes Juvdu:Juvdu MARJA-U-plc ;

A) other cont-lex B) take away Konrad Nielsen-mark º

º –twol Gradation: Cluster Non-nasal Sonorant + Non-sonorant

“jº” – is the truth and “i” is how we write it

Adding “gieđahit” verb (hantere)

Search for -hit verbs

gieđahit:gieđah MUITAL_TV ;

Adding “diskehallat” verb (diskvalifisere) (passive meaning)

diskehallat+OLang/NOB:diskehalla RAIMMAHALLA_IV ; ! ^LOAN

Adding “Nay Pyi Taw” propernoun

Search google Hovedstaden i Myanmar (Burma) search for -aw in smi-propernouns.lexc

Saginaw+OLang/UND:Saginaw BERN-plc ;
Nay% Pyi% Taw+MWE+OLang/UND:Nay% Pyi% Taw BERN-plc ;

Adding “Frivilighet Norge”

propernoun in smi-propernouns.lexc

Frivillighet% Norge+MWE+CmpNP/First+OLang/NOB:Frivillighet% Norge ACCRA-org ;

Adding “Play-boy” sub to Playboy

is a propernoun in smi (smi-propernouns.lexc) since there is no -boy I search for -y

Roy+CmpNP/None+OLang/UND:Roy BERN-mal ; but Playboy should be -org or -obj so better:

FairPlay+CmpNP/First+OLang/ENG:FairPlay BERN-obj ;
Playboy+Err/Orth+CmpNP/First+OLang/ENG:Play-boy BERN-obj ; !SUB

Adding propernoun “Slagen”

Google first

like Slaatten+OLang/UND:Slaatten9 LONDON-sur ; but since it is a place it needs to be LONDON-plc

Adding propernoun “Tønsberg Blad”

to shared-smi Sem/Org

Tønsberg% Blad+MWE+CmpNP/First+OLang/NOB:Tønsberg% Blad9 BERN-org ;

Adding last and first names

Mollekleiv - last name same ending as Hynnekleiv+OLang/NOB:Hynne^kleiv BERN-sur ;

Mollekleiv+OLang/NOB:Molle^kleiv BERN-sur ;
Butler+OLang/ENG:Butler LONDON-sur ;
Hoge+OLang/NOB:Hoge ACCRA-sur ;

Adding Noun “perfomativitehtateoriija”

ráŋggáštanriekteteoriija+N+Sem/Dummytag:ráŋggáštan#riekte#te^ori IIJA ;

perfomativitehtateoriija+N+Sem/Prod-cogn:perfomativitehta#te^ori IIJA ;

Adding noun “Iežasnájadeapmi”

is a noun: try to find another one with the same ending

AWG-lágideapmi+N+CmpN/SgN+CmpNP/First:AWG-lágid EAPMI_default_sem ;

but this one has a hyphen, those are special, so try to find one without

beassášávvudeapmi+N+CmpN/SgN+Sem/Event:beassáš#ávvud EAPMI_lex_sem ;
biebmoguollešaddadeapmi+N+CmpN/SgN:biebmo#guolle#šaddad EAPMI_default_sem ;
vuorbádeapmi+N+CmpN/SgN+CmpNP/First:vuorbád EAPMI_default_sem ;

how to know which one: =EAPMI_default_sem= gets a default semantic tag EAPMI_lex_sem gets a manual semantic tag for example Sem/Event in this case

means self-harm so it should be default_sem

  1. add at some place in nouns.lexc, if possible alphabetically, but not necessary, and put first letter in lower case
  2. copy ending from a similar entry: +N+CmpN/SgN+CmpNP/First:vuorbád EAPMI_default_sem ;
  3. switch the part after the colon and look at which letter it stops, so “iežasnájad”
  4. remove +CmpNP/First - iežasnájadeapmi+N+CmpN/SgN:iežasnájad EAPMI_default_sem ;
  5. if it is a compound then put a hashtag inbetween on the part after the comma: iežasnájadeapmi+N+CmpN/SgN:iežas#nájad EAPMI_default_sem ;
  6. run make -j in lang-sme
  7. test word - echo iežasnájadeapmi hfst-lookup -q src/analyser-gt-desc.hfstol

+CmpNP/First means: it can only be the first part of a compound, if not we put a spelling error - this is put if it is easily confused with another compound that is more common We also use it if the word is an MWE (Sámi% Dáiddaguovddáš+MWE+CmpNP/First:Sámi% Dáidda#guovddáž LONDON-org ;)

next word:

Adding noun “siskkáldasdálkkodeapmi”

  1. find the longest possible match (that is also a compound), so not only deapmi, but dálkkodeapmi –+N+CmpN/SgN:ele#rávdnje#dálkkod EAPMI_default_sem ;
  2. replace ele#rávdnje by siskkáldas: siskkáldasdálkkodeapmi+N+CmpN/SgN:siskkáldas#dálkkod EAPMI_default_sem ;
  3. DONE

Adding propernoun “Árbediehtoguovddáš”

it’s a propernoun since it is a sme-specific propernoun which would get translated in the other Sámi languages it goes to lang-sme/src/fst/stems/sme-propernouns.lexc (instead of shared-smi)

  1. look for the longest possible match meaning if we have a compound, let’s try to find a compound - diehtoguovddáš NO guovddáš: 
    Davvi% álbmogiid% guovddáš+MWE+CmpNP/First:Davvi% álbmogiid% guovddáž LONDON-org ;
Sámi% Dáiddaguovddáš+MWE+CmpNP/First:Sámi% Dáidda#guovddáž LONDON-org ;
  2. Add entry + tags from the match - Árbediehtoguovddáš+MWE+CmpNP/First:Sámi% Dáidda#guovddáž LONDON-org ;
  3. Change part after the colon and add hashtags if there are more parts of a compound - Árbediehtoguovddáš+MWE+CmpNP/First:Árbe#diehto#guovddáž LONDON-org ;
  4. and then remove +MWE since it’s only one word
  5. remove +CmpNP/First

Adding adjective “buotagat”

It’s an adjective:

  1. search for a compound with -agat guhkesagat+A+Sem/Dummytag:guhkes#ag AGAdj ; CAREFUL (don’t confuse) with similar -agat words where the consonant before is part of the word, like - lagat+A+Sem/Dummytag+Gram/Comp:laga OVDDIT ;
  2. add entry with tags of guhkesagat
  3. replace parts after the colon:

These are tags that say that the entry can be the first part of the compound, it can either be in nominative singular and genitive plural.

+CmpN/SgN — could be buotagatsearvi +CmpN/PlG — could be buotagagiidsearvi (this is used in combination with Sem/Hum tag)

be aware of morphophonological processes: before the hashtag:

Adding adjective “unnibuš”

It’s an adjective, but not yet in the normative lexicon

unnibuš unni+A+Der/Comp+A+Der/Dimin+A+Attr 0,000000
unnibuš unni+A+Der/Comp+A+Der/Dimin+A+Sg+Nom 0,000000
unnibuš unni+A+Err/Orth+Der/Comp+A+Der/Dimin+A+Attr 0,000000
unnibuš unni+A+Err/Orth+Der/Comp+A+Der/Dimin+A+Sg+Nom 0,000000

search for the ending -buš: stuorebuš+A+Sem/Hum:stuorebužž STUORIBUS ; exchange parts of it unnibuš+A+Sem/Hum:unnibužž STUORIBUS ;

Adding “Middagsfjället”

it is a propernoun for all Sámi languages open shared-smi/src/fst/stems/smi-propernouns.lexc search for fjället find: Borkafjället+OLang/UND:Borka^fjället LONDON-LOAN-plc ; adapt: Middagsfjället+OLang/UND:Middags^fjället LONDON-plc ;

Adding buotagat “Jensenius”

is a surname open shared-smi/src/fst/stems/smi-propernouns.lexc search for the ending -ius Iskanius+OLang/UND:Iskani^us BERN-sur ;

Adding buotagat “Rama Cay”

what on earth is that? - google knows an island in Nicaragua There is nothing similar in the lexicon The following continuation lexica mean the following: BERN-plc — Bernas, Bernii LONDON-plc — Londonis, Londonii ACCRA-plc — Accras, Accrai

search for “ay” – Bay+CmpNP/None+OLang/UND:Bay BERN-plc ; add +MWE change +CmpNP/None to +CmpNP/First

Adding propernoun “Sziget”

google - Hungarian festival

Sziget+OLang/UND:Sziget9 LONDON-org ;
``



## what does the number 9 mean?

bargiidbellodatpolitihkar+v1+N+CmpN/SgN+CmpN/SgG+CmpN/PlG+OLang/NOB+Sem/Hum:bargiid9#bellodat#politihkkar MATTAR ;

bargiid#bellodat#politihkkar MATTAR ; slamlaguna+N+CmpN/SgN+CmpN/SgG+CmpN/PlG+Sem/Plc:slam9#laguna GOAHTI-A ;

eaŋkilváikkuhangaskaoapmi+v5+N+OLang/NOB+Sem/Dummytag:eaŋkal#váikkuhan#gask9#oapmi GOAHTI-I ;


9 prevents that 
- bargiid- changes to bargiit-
- slam- changes to slan- (slanlaguna)
- en- changes to something else
- gask- changes to gas-

- vowel + d/m/k/s/h
- some continuation lexicons are an exception - Sotaniemi+OLang/FIN:Sota^niem NIEMI ;
  

## What does ^ mean?
`Playboy+CmpNP/First+OLang/ENG:Play^boy BERN-obj ;'

It's a soft hyphen for names as opposed to hard hyphens # in anything else

## What does º mean?

billu+N+Sem/Dummytag:bilºlu GOAHTI-U ; `` it means that genitive cannot be “bilu” - so it’s third grade/second grade

What kind of languages are there in propernouns?

What does +CmpNP/First mean?

We add it always after +MWE it means that it can only be the first part of a compound, e.g. “Frivillighet Norge-organisašuvdna”

Meaning of different continuation lexica

hit-verbs