Drawing trees for Arabic sentences

[knowledge seeker]

Drawing trees

Hi every body,

I am involved in a task that requires me to draw trees for a set of sentences written in Arabic language , how to draw trees for verbal sentences and wh-questions for Arabic using the framework of Lexical functional grammar ? I would highly appreciate it if you guide me into this or supply me with resources in the field .

Regards ,

 

[Frank Antonson]

Tanslation from the Persian diagrammed (

1 2) Frank Antonson

Check out the above thread. It might be of some help or interest.

 

[knowledge seeker]

Thanks alot Mr.Frank
but why do u suggest Persian is it similar to Arabic ?

 

[Frank Antonson]

Only because the writing is from right to left.

I realize that Persian and Arabic are in no other way related. Well...there is the beauty of the script.

The thread that I recommended uses Reed-Kellogg. By using the words "tree diagram" I think you will want another system.

Still, I am interested.

Frank

 

[knowledge seeker]

Thanks sir ,
I really appreciate yr help
but what exactly want is how to draw trees for Arabic in the framework of LFG , should I adopt the rules of phrase structure rules" generative grammar " or those of X-bar theory ?
Could u tell me ,sir ?

 

[Frank Antonson]

The only way that I know how to diagram sentences is using Reed-Kellogg.

It is an American system, developed around 1875.

There is no reason why it should not work in Arabic, but it is very possible that any teachers you have will not understand it.

The quickest way I know to learn the system is to go to the website:

"Diagram It"

Maybe you will have to google that. When I get to school I will send you the exact site.

Frank

 

[Frank Antonson]

Here is the website:

Diagramming Sentences

If you wish to use this system, I would suggest that as you learn it you do the Arabic-speaking community a service and translate the sample sentences into Arabic.

You will need a program to diagram with. I use "SmartDraw 7 Suite Edition."

Incidentally, if anyone reading this knows of a better program for diagrammig, please let me know.

Frank

 

[knowledge seeker]

thank you v.much

 

[knowledge seeker]

the following is a program for parsing sentences in accordance with LFG
XLE Web Interface

Regards ,

 

[Frank Antonson]

Thanks. That is really cool.

I will play with that some.

I did not realize that there was anything like that online.

 

[Frank Antonson]

Compare it to the following website:

Reed-Kellogg Diagrammer

Frank

 

[knowledge seeker]

very useful , thanks
that website is designed in particular for LFG syntax
check out these two links , they provide the same service :

Probabilistic LFG Parser

LFG Parser

but , personally , I don't rely too much on such parsers . I do't trust them completely especially in terms of languages other than English .
What do u think ?

 

[Frank Antonson]

Well, I looked at those sites.

I imagine that they are able to do amazing things, but I return to the idea that Reed-Kellogg cannot be beat in terms of simplicity and elegance.

Those sites may be able to handle a wonderful sentence like:

"For naught so vile that on this earth doth live but to the earth some special good doth give; nor aught so good, but strained from that fair use, revolts on true birth stumbling on abuse"

But there would be, in the end, so much information about that sentence that its beauty would be gone.

See the thread
https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/...116388-diagramming-shakespear-26-cat-5-a.html

Frank

 

[chester_100]

If you like we can work on diagramming a couple of Arabic sentences.

 

[Frank Antonson]

Chester,
I am so glad to see that you are back.
I thought of trying to find a way for Knowledge Seeker to find you.
This seems like the perfect subject for you and your skills.
Be sure to share whatever you do with the rest of us.
Frank

 

[chester_100]

Hi Frank, I'm so glad to read your posts again. Sure, I'll try to my best to be of help.Thank you very much.

 

[stanislaw.masny]

مساء الخير Knowledge Seeker
May I add my piece of information? I'm not interested in syntax trees
(more in شجر).
You can check on Google:
1. Concrete syntax tree - Wikipedia,
2. Arabic - WordReference Forum.
#2. is similar to usingenglish forum
ليلت سعيدة

 

[knowledge seeker]

Hi guys ,
I am so glad to see your contributions .
Chester , مساء النور
Infact , I am so confused ; I am working on my MA thesis and I need to draw trees for a set of sentences written on one of Arabic dialects ,
e.g : راح الولد المدرسة
وين الولد ؟
. I chose Lexical Functional Grammar as a frame work for data parsing .The trees will represent the "C-structure " of that theory .
Now , I am so confused , I don't know which syntactic rules to adopt for drawing trees ? . As far as I know , phrase structure rules and X-bar theory of generative grammar are not applicable to languages such as Arabic because Arabic has a relatively free word order . It is possible to adopt transformational rules but these rules use movements and movements between constituents is not acceptable according to LFG .
I wish the point is clear now and I will appreciate your guidance , guys

Regards .

 

[Frank Antonson]

I have to defer.

I do not understand.

As I have so often said, the American Reed-Kellogg system may be very simplistic, but it serves to analyze any sentence that makes sense.

As a contribution, I can offer to diagram any sentence in English, German, Portuguese, Spanish, or French. If a sentence in Arabic can be translated into any of these, I can diagram it.

Frank

 

[knowledge seeker]

Frank , thanks for this nice offer .

Actually , I need to diagram the sentences as they are in the Arabic transcript not the translation . If you have no background of syntactic theories such as generative grammar , transformational grammar and lexical functional grammar , you will not understand what I am talking about .
But I realy wonder how come to be a native speaker of English and not familiar with such theories ?


Stanislaw , thanks for ur reply , in fact , I posted an identical thread to this one on word-reference forums but I received no replys .
Regards ,