Re: [SHOEBOX] Null Morphemes

> From: BP Jonsson
>
> At 19:32 21.7.2000 -0400, Jeff Sheets wrote:
>
> >I have tried everything I can think of to get Null Morphemes to
> work, and I
> >think we've probably found something Shoebox doesn't handle
> gracefully.  I
>
> I think it can be done.  Add whatever symbol you like for "null" to your
> alphabet in the Language Encoding Properties dialog box, taking
> care to add
> a Variable "Null" to the Variables tab.(I would advise against using the
> digit 0, simply because in most fonts it is too similar to the letters
> oO.  The uppercase Danish letter Ø (Oslash) might do if you haven't got øØ
> in your orthography.  I use -- generally, not yet in Shoebox -- the
> international currency symbol ¤, since it is similar to a crossed-out
> circle, which some scandinavians use as an empty set symbol.)  Then you
> must add your null symbol to the lexicon.  Look up "Context
> Sensitivity—Preventing Incorrect Parses" and "Underlying Forms"
> in the help
> file for suggestions how it may be done.  Note sepecially in "Underlying
> Forms" how the polysemy of _hit_ is handled.
I'm not sure I understood your proposed solution.  In fact, I'm pretty sure
that I didn't.

> In David's specific case I think the lexicon entry for _el-_ might look
> like this:
>    \lx el-
>    \u el-
>    \u el-¤
>    \ps MOOD
>    \ge assertive
> which means that you do have a choice between two underlying analyses for
> each occurrence of _el-_, but you do not have to make lexicon entries for
> all surface combinations of _el-_ with the various suffixes, and the
> interlinear parse will look *much* nicer! :-)
You seem to have conflated the rootless wordform problem and the null
morpheme problem.

The former was elegantly solved by Jeff's suggestion, i.e.

\lx el-
\a  el
\u  el-
\ps MOOD
\ge assertive

This results in a very nice parse that at least appears to be rootless:

\t elieth
\m el-       -i      -eth
\g assertive -perf   -past
\p MOOD      -ASPECT -TENSE

Nice enough for my purposes.

The latter problem (null morpheme) arises from the fact that absolutive and
nominative cases use a null morpheme.  The problem is how to get Shoebox to
parse the following:

\f Galdor came.

\t i   galdran           erthulel             eleth
\m ir  galdr  =an   -0   er-  tulo -e   -l    el-        -eth
\g the Galdor =masc -[S] do-  come -agt -actn assertive- -past
\p DET NAM    =GND  -ABS AGT- V    -VAL -VC   MOOD-      -TENSE

Without having to explicitly insert the null morpheme in the text.

\t i galdran-0 erthulel eleth

And also without precluding the parsing of other cases:

\t i   galdranne
\m ir  galdr  =an   -e
\g the Galdor =masc -[A]
\p DET NAM    =GND  -ERG

\t i   galdrannon
\m ir  galdr  =an   -on
\g the Galdor =masc -[Obl]
\p DET NAM    =GND  -DAT

et. al.

> I assume you will have to
> add the null morpheme (or several null morphemes with different PoS and
> glosses to the lexicon, as e.g.:
>     \lx ¤
>     \a
>     \u ¤
>     \ps AUX
>     \ge is
> I'm not sure you really can leave an empty \a field and get the right
> result.  It will have to be tried.  If not, delete the empty \a field and
> hope Shoebox won't mind that the null morpheme(s) never actually occur on
> the surface!
I'm afraid this is where I became convinced that I was lost.  I'm hoping
that you have a solution here and that you will be able to explain it to me.

BTW, I'm really having fun with this tool.  I remember downloading it a
couple of years ago and not having the time to noodle my way through it.
I'm sorry that I didn't take the time.  Despite these minor problems, it
really is an excellent tool.

David

David E. Bell
The Gray Wizard
    dbell@graywizard.net
    www.graywizard.net

"Wisdom begins in wonder." - Socrates