Parsing Vorlin in 1998
In the late 90s I began using the freeware parser called PC-PATR from the sil.org website. This enabled me to write a formal specification of Vorlin syntax and to test example sentences for syntactic ambiguity. I was excited about this and I put a lot of time and effort into it. However, the people who were hanging around on the 'net at the time did not seem to appreciate this accomplishment.
(In case you don't understand why it's exciting, I'll explain. The parser finally provides a way for a conlanger to check his writing! We all make mistakes. Sometimes it's hard to spot a mistake in your own typing, and often it's impossible to find another human being who will actually look closely at your conlang. The parser will catch your errors. It points out errors in syntax. Two kinds of errors: typographical errors, and inconsistencies between the rules you have written and the way you are actually using the language. Furthermore the glosses provided by the parser can help you spot typos and incorrect word choices.)
Below is a preliminary set of syntactic rules from 1998:
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
; v-syntax.txt 1998.06.30
; for use with PC-PATR parser available from www.sil.org
; copyright 1998 Richard K. Harrison
;
; -> means "consists of"
; / means "or"
; () enclose an optional item
; {} organize several items into a group
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
; 1: TYPES OF SENTENCES
; *********************
; sentence
RULE
S -> VocP / Fragment / FullS
; vocative phrase
RULE
VocP -> vopcl (NP) (SF)
; sentence fragment
RULE
Fragment -> {AjP / AvP / dem / ij / modal / NP / NumP / PP} (SF)
; full sentence
RULE
FullS -> TranS / IntrS / InvIS
; transitive sentence
RULE
TranS -> (SISM) (NP_1) TVP (NP_2) (TVarg) (SF)
; intransitive sentence
RULE
IntrS -> (SISM) (NP) IVP (IVarg) (SF)
; inverted intransitive sentence
RULE
InvIS -> (SISM) IVP NP (SF)
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
; 2: TYPES OF VERB PHRASES
; ************************
; transitive verb phrase
RULE
TVP -> (TVP_2) (AvP) vt
; intransitive verb phrase
RULE
IVP -> (TVP) (AvP) vi
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
; 3: NOUN PHRASES
; ***************
; possibly-modified noun/pronoun
RULE
NP -> (dem) (PossP) (NumP) (AjP) (RelC) {n / pn / proper / NomiP} (PP) (cja NP_2)
; proper noun
RULE
proper -> (title) prop (kwi) (prop_2 (prop_3))
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
; 4: OTHER TYPES OF PHRASES
; *************************
; adjective phrase
RULE
AjP -> (AvP) aj (cja aj_2)
; adverb phrase
RULE
AvP -> av (av_2 (av_3))
; numeric phrase
RULE
NumP -> num (num_2 (num_3))
; possessive phrase
RULE
PossP -> popn / {NP es}
; prepositional phrase
RULE
PP -> pr (pr_2) NP
; nominalized clause
RULE
NomiP -> ke FullS (das)
; relative clause
RULE
RelC -> wel FullS da
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
; 5: SENTENCE-INITIAL AND SENTENCE-FINAL
; **************************************
; sentence-initial sentential modifier
RULE
SISM -> modal / PP
; post-verb verb arguments, transitive sentence
RULE
TVarg -> AvP / {pv PP}
; post-verb verb arguments, intransitive sentence
RULE
IVarg -> AvP / PP
; sentence-final particles
RULE
SF -> sfpcl (sfpcl_2)
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
END
And below you can see the results. When provided with a suitable lexicon file, the parser was able to diagram Vorlin sentences and even provided a crude verbatim gloss.
laho men ven
"hello, friends"
1:
S
|
VocP
_____|_____
vopcl NP
laho ___|____
hello NumP n
| ven
num friend
men
>1
S:
[ cat: S ]
1 parse found
ne sofi
"don't sleep!"
1:
S
|
FullS
|
IntrS
___|____
SISM IVP
| |
modal vi
ne sofi
don't! sleep
S:
[ cat: S ]
1 parse found
kus mat vido nom zon
"his/her eye(s) see no sun"
1:
S
|
FullS
|
TranS
__________|___________
NP TVP NP
___|____ | ___|____
PossP n vt NumP n
| mat vido | zon
popn eye see num sun
kus nom
his/her zero
S:
[ cat: S ]
1 parse found
ten gize mimo melan
"the sky is somewhat ink-like"
1:
S
|
FullS
|
TranS
____________|____________
NP TVP NP
| ____|_____ |
n AvP vt n
ten | mimo melan
sky av imitate ink
gize
slightly
S:
[ cat: S ]
1 parse found
ya vido bata ten wan ter
"I see the western sky and the earth"
(here I had to tag _wan_ as a preposition to make it parse correctly)
1:
S
|
FullS
|
TranS
____________|____________
NP TVP NP
| | _________|__________
pn vt AjP n PP
ya vido | ten _____|______
I/me see aj sky pr NP
bata wan |
western and n
ter
earth
S:
[ cat: S ]
1 parse found
ku vido yas sib es kat
"he sees my sibling's cat"
1:
S
|
FullS
|
TranS
______________|_______________
NP TVP NP
| | ______|_______
pn vt PossP n
ku vido _____|______ kat
he/she see NP es cat
____|____ es
PossP n 's
| sib
popn sibling
yas
my
S:
[ cat: S ]
1 parse found
menya dumo ke Vorlin wi guta
"we think that Vorlin is good"
(dum- was disturbingly ambitransitive in these days)
1:
S
|
FullS
|
TranS
__________|__________
NP TVP NP
| | |
pn vt NomiP
menya dumo ______|______
we/us think ke FullS
ke |
that StatS
_____|_____
NP SVP
| ___|____
proper wi AjP
| wi |
prop be aj
Vorlin guta
Vorlin good
S:
[ cat: S ]
1 parse found