obling: a tester for transformational …a transformational grammar tester is part of a strategy for...

, . , • ,

SERGE BOISVERT - ANDI~ DUGAS - DENISE BI'LANGER

OBLING: A TESTER.

FOIL TR`ANSFORMATIONAL' GKAMMAKS

~. INTRODUCTION

Transformational grammars have developed with recent research in linguistics. They appear to be a powerful and explicit device for characterizing the description of sentences; they also meet conditions of adequacy that can be applied to check that a sentence, or a set of rules, is well-formed.

A transformational grammar tester is part of a strategy for the selection of a well-formed grammar matching the data base. To put it more explicitly, a tester of this sort should provide the linguist a class of the possible grammars which concerns precisely the linguistic theory. These grammars have the form given by CUOMSKY in Aspects (see bibliograIShy).

2. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE SYSTEM

O~UNO is a .program for dealing with the structures of the French language: it performs the verification of phrase structure rules, the derivation of sentences according to the transformational component and the graphic illustration of the intermediate or final structures.

In the program, UNG is the routine that controls all the subroutines and the matching of the input structures with those allowed by the phrase structure rules. If the matching is impossible, a comment is

Acknowledgments. This work was supported in part by Canada Council of Arts grants @69-0404 and @71-0819.

We are also indebted to the staff of the Computer Center of the Universit4 du Qu4- bec ~ Montr4al for providing computing facilities, and giving this project high priority.

David Sankoff, of the Universit4 de Montr6al, is also responsible for the first version of the tree editing program, l~inaUy, Jossdyne G4rard helped debugging linguistic rules.

122 SERGE BOISVERT- ANDIL~ DUGAS- DENISE BI~,/ANGER

i e e I I I I t i I e l e t l I i l l l l l l e l I l I l I l l l l ~

: o

:. -*:- :

I i e e e e ~

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ >

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 =

~ z ° * , 0 , ° ~ o

: ..... ~Z . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~g

o

D ~ O

o

aO O U d

3N1

z o . .~ ~ 3z O. ~ Z o k9 b- O. ~3J A T d

o:r =:~ o 0~3 qD_~ • :: u. 0. tk NNN

IOH U~ ~ Uj~ (~ ~ZD~-Z NUd

~dO

N W Z D U ~

Fig. 1. Tree for an input sentence

OBLING: A TESTER FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMARS 123

made. Otherwise, the output gives the graphic illustration of the tree for this sentence, or the input structures are immediately processed using transformational rules. For example,

General transformational rules are operated by a number of subroutines of which the main are explained hereafter.

3. GENERAL CAPACITIES OF THE SYSTEM

The system OBLING is divided into four parts: a main program LING, the service subroutines, the phrase structure grammar tester and the transformational grammar testers. LING and the service subroutines are stored in the central memory while the two grammars testers operate on disks.

The main program invokes the various linguistic rules and controls the application of these rules to the data base structure(s) or the derived structure(s). The service subroutines are called by the routines concerning the application of the transformational rules and work in paral- lel with LING during the processing.

Phrase structure

grammar tester

" L I N G

Service I Subroutines

(processing memories) 4--1~ ' grammar testers

Fig. 2. The OBLING system

4. SPECIFIC CAPABILITIES OF THE PROGRAM LING

The program LING will first initialize the working areas. Then, it loads and operates the program V~rlCATEU~ which, after the reading and the verification of the input data, returns control to LINe.

124 SERGE BOISVERT- ANDI~ DUGAS- DENISE BELANGER

ZING will then load and execute, using an overlay technique, the small control programs c Y c H Q1, CYCLI Q2 . . . . , cYcLI Qi. Each of these handles, in conjunction with HNG, the mapping on the input structure of a fixed number of transformation rules. In the current version of the program, cYctI Q1 deals with the linguistic transformational rules T1 to Ts included, cYcrI Q2 the rules To to T10 included, etc. The total number of these control programs cYcrI Q depends on the memory space allowed; processing is most efficient if the number of these control programs is as small as possible.

5. INFORMATION PATTERN BETWEEN LING AND VERIFICATEUR

When VERI~CATEUR (the phrase structure grammar tester) is in memory, the structure to be analysed is read from the standard input unit (punched cards) and is processed by the subroutine Cr~RB~ to

LING

v V~ICATBD~

c'zcLi qO

• T

CKARBRE ARBRE

verification printing of syntagmatic of the tree

rules

Fig. 3. The Vm~L~CAWSUa program (see figure 1 for updated tree and structure)


be validated. This subroutine first checks if the phrase structure is con- sistent, then calls up eke which tests the names of the constituents describing the structure; finally, it compares this structure with those allowed by the phrase structure rules.

When errors are discovered during the processing, various sorts of comments are printed and followed if possible by a partial or full tree of the sentence. When updating is done, the tree is printed and the program VERrFACATEUR passes control to LING. The following illustrations concern first, the program VERIHCATEUR and second, an example of an updated tree and structure.

6. INFORMATION PATTERN BETWEEN LING AND THE TRANSFORMATIONAL

GRAMMAR TESTERS

Each time LING receives the control from VERIFICATEUR, that is, when no further errors have been detected, it loops in order to call successively the monitors CYCLI ql . . . . , CYCLI Q9 which contain up 45 different rules; we suppose that we are working now with a specific version of a grammar.

The first of these monitors has the following structure.

Transformational rule # 1





Fig. 4. The cYcLI Q1 program

When CYCLI Q1 gets control, it is botmd to the application of 7'1, • .., Ts which correspond to the first five transformational rules; then control is switched to LING which calls cYCLI Q2. The programs CYCLI qn process cyclic rules and the output structure is the input structure for the following rule. When all the cyclic rules have been applied to the input structure, LING starts over again at CYCLI Q1. If no modifications

126 SERGE BOISVERT- ANDR~ DUGAS- DENISE BI~LANGER

to the already processed structures occur, or if new errors are discovered, con t ro l returns to LING.

After all the cyclic rules have been applied, the post-cyclic rules are processed in a similar manner: cYcu qA comprises the first five post-cyclic rules CYCLI Q~, the five following, and so on.

This chart illustrates the general interaction between the programs for the processing of cyclic or post-cyclic rules.

I_

cYcI.t Q1

cYcu Q2

CYCI, I Q9

CYCLI QA

I CYCLI QB

cYC~i Qi I

End

Fig. 5. Flow of Control between control programs under the direction of LInG

7. SERVICE SUBROUTINES

They are implemented within the main monitor ZING. All but a few of these subroutines are called during the execution of the routines corresponding to the 88 rules, that is during the phrase structure analysis or the mapping of n structures.

A short description of the main subroutines follows: ^ R ~ (tree). This subroutine is responsible for printing the tree. At the input, we find a vector D of ND elements which represents the tree. The hori- zontal distance for printing is calculated along with the total number and the relative position of these nodes; the vertical one is fixed.

OBLING: A TESTER FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMARS

For example,

fACHE~ 2 #

NOMRRE DE NOEUDS

NOMBRE DE NOEUDS

CHA/NE

1 = $ O(. I ) 2 = LE D( 21 3 = N D ( 3 ) 4 = V O( ~) 5 = $ D( 5 ] 6 = $ D( 6 ) 7 = PRP D( 7) 8 = OIJE O( 8 ) g : LE O( 91

I 0 = N D( IO) 11 = V O ( l l 12 = $ D(12) 13 : DET D(13) 14 : DET 0 ( 1 4 ) 15 : GN D ( i S ) 16 = GV D(16) 17 = C D(17) 18 = GN O ( 1 8 ) 19 = GV D ( l g ) ~0 = P O(~O) ~ I = P D(21

21

TERMINAUX

= 2'0 = 13 = 15 = 16 = 20 = 21 = 17 = 17 = 16 = 18

) = I g = 21 = 15 = 18 = 20 = 20 = 2 1

= 21 = - I

) = - I

12

ARBQRESCENCE NON PRODUITE SUR DEMANDE : AUCU~E

REGLES IGNORFES SUR DENANDE t AIJCUNES

Fig. 6a. Representation of the tree in memory

127

FIW~ f~

7.1. OT~ (Remove).

This subroutine is needed when nodes are erased; another subroutine, NEWTgF_~ will erase the nodes. In the example below, oxv sets D(6), D(7), 9(13) to zero, and NEWTREE erases nodes numbered 6, 7 and 13. If node 12 was also erased, OT~ and NEWT~E would have erased node 28 automatically. The same holds for the node 32, where all the nodes between 6 and 13 would have been erased.

7.2. D F E R , D F E R X , GFER, G F E R X .

Except for a few details, these four subroutines do the same work. For example, Dr~RX [I, J] is applied to a structure J that has to be mov- ed to the right under a dominating node L As illustrated below, Dr~Rx [31, 30] moves the structure headed by 30 to the right under the node

128 SERGE BOISVERT- ANDRE DUGAS- DENISE B~LANGER

....................~.

0 " :> °~

IJ--

: . . . . . ~ g

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 ~ :

: . . . . . . . . . . . . ~

m

: . . . . . ~ g . . . . . . . . . . . . ~

~ . . . . . . . . . . . ..~z

° ° ° ° ° ° ~

: . . . . . ~ ~w

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ .

~ Z ~ Z U w z

m z ~ w z

~ ~ z ~ z

m

Fig. 6b. Corresponding printed tree


. . . . . . . , . . . . . . . , . . , . . . . . ~ . . . . . . . . , . . . . . ~ . ~ ,

° ° ° • • , c u ~ W~ud

~ : ."

. . . . . . . . º . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ .

= > . ~ >

g~

. . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ z

~ z o w

. . . . . ' . ~ : ~J

. . . . . . ~ : . . . . . ~

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 ~ • o

. . . . ~ . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . ~ >

Fig. 7a. Sample tree before OTE and NEwra~ apply

~ z ~ w z

~ z ~ w z

w z

w z ~ o

~ w O ~ d 3NI II

O ~ D o H~N ~ Z D ~ I O N

N~d

dOD

HN °

NH"

J I °

+

o = ~ D o 06d

I I

~NN ' I 0 ~

O~DO 3~d

dO0

~AV

~ I "

~ ~ z z ~ dN"

c ~ o

130 SERGE BOISVERT- ANDP~ DUGAS- DENISE BELANGER

,........,......,.......,................~,

8~

U-

• o o . o o ~ . o o * o ° - - ~

: ............ ~

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~

e l o s t $ • • • e s e t 0 • t • • e Q • •

o o • " " • " o • • o • • " Z

• • • • • oJo

: ° ° ° ° oz ° • • • ° . ~

: ..... h~o :e

...... go ............ ~ o

° ° ° . ° ° ~ ° ° ° ° ° - - ~ ° ° o . ° ° , ° ° ° ° ' ° °

. . . . . . . ° ° ° . ° ° ° , . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . ° . ° ° >

m . . . . . ° 0 ° ° . . . . • . . . . . . . , ° ° . ° ° ° ° . ° * 0 o ° 2

~ z

* * ° ° . ° ~ ° ° ° ° ° ° ° , ° ° . . ° ° , ° ° ° ° o ° ° ° ° o , °

° o , , o ° - ° , o , ~ ° ° o . , ° , . . ° ° , . . ° . . o . ° . . . , . o o . , ~ ~

¢q~L0

tn>uz NgCW

{gh.w

DX~

0 2 � ~ u u

0 8 d

JNr

a . = ~ . . = o c :~ o=- I I c z

Frld 0~3

u~ .J m s n N

ION

ado 0. ~--u o. 3 Z : ~ - d 0 3

~ 0. N , u- ~- ,x~..~h.Z NO"

~ c x o . . ~ - ~ w l • • • • o l i N "

÷ ~NI

c c ~ x'°W-Jcc II B- o. o_

ngd ~D~>O_:E0C GND

r - o . J ~ :g uJ o_ H n N :£ o. i.-- .~ ~ u . x :

| O N

H ~ d ,o 3~d

~dO

:g :~ ~ 0 d O 3 ° ~ uJ .J~c

EZZo. ~ z z o - - I +

O ~ D

¢W W Z D bJ .J O: _J ,Xb.C~O.

Fig. 7b. Sample tree where oT]~ and N~WTREB have applied


31. (Node 31 was created by rule T2 and DF~R was applied on the re- suiting tree)

[I , / ] DFERX [;r, j] GF R [1, J] G RX [I, j]

makes node J the next younger brother of node I makes node J the youngest son of node I makes node J the next older brother of node I makes node J the oldest son in node I

The general technique for these four subroutines is the following. Before modification, the tree is copied in another area of memory. All the terminal nodes identified with the structure J take the place of the terminal nodes identified with the structure L Then, the terminal nodes of I are requested in the copied structure and parsed with their dominating nonterminal nodes at the right place. Gr~R ,permits the new numbering of the sequence and, if necessary, prunes the tree.

In the example illustrated below (Fig. 9a and 9b), Gr~R [14, 13] is applied and node CPL (13) has been attached to node 16, the father of node 14. If GF~RX [14, 13] had been specified, node CPL would have been attached directly to node 14, rather than the father of node 14.

7.3. INTERV,

This subroutine is used for the permutation of 2 structures. For example, INT~RV. [I, J] where I = 24 andJ = 28 gives rise to the struc- tural change illustrated below.

7.4. INSERT.

This subroutine is used for the insertion of a new terminal node; for example, INSERT [4, 1HE, 1HT, 1HR, 9] introduces node with name ETR which becomes a new son of node 9.

7.5. Other subroutines.

There is a number of other subroutines concerning conditions specified within a rule, such as the presence or absence of a node or of a feature in the whole structure, the logical restrictions of loose equality or strict equality.

132 SERGE BOISVERT- ANDR~ DUGAS- DENISE B]~LAlqGER

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S .

. ° ° o * ~ ° * ° ~ o ° i ~ ° ° ° ° * ° ° ~ ° ° * ° ° ~ Z

° , ° ° ° • ~ ° ° , ° ° ° . ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° . ~ ° ° ~

~W ~ ° , ° ° • ° ° ° * . ° ° ° ° . . ° ° ° * ° ° ° * ° • ~

°

~W : ° ° ~ ° ° ° ° ° • . ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° * * ° ° • ~

..................................~.

..................................~

° ° ° ° . ° ° ° - ° ° ° ° ~ z

: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~.~ o i

. . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . ° . ~ . ° , . , . , . . ° ° ~ . . . . . ° . . . . >

° ° . • . . . . . . ° ° • ° ° • ° ° • ° ° ° ° • ° • * . z

...... ~_~

~ :

~ > ~

~Z~W

0 ~ t d O~ ~ g ~ 3NI I I

1 7 7 d

N ~ N

IOH H~d = l ~ d

~ l d O

÷

~ w z ~ w ~

o

. - I N I

• o - 0- N33

f l T d

I O H

un bJ z ~ h2 .-J ~ N~d ~o.o_

O d 0 4" c 3 ~ a~ zza-~x : ~ z o ~ c o dO3

~ . . ~ - a : Q . ~ . - e ~ • • j • • . . . - a A V

m ~ w ~ 2 w

O-

Fig. 8a. Sample tree before GFER applied

OBLING~ A TESTER FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMARS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ .

d8

. . . . . . ~

* ~

. . . . . . g~> . . . . . . . . . . . . "~>

: . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~z

...... ~g

• : . , . , . ~ . . , . o , ~ . ~

: - - z • ° • • • ° m (

• o

° • • • • ° ~ o

; . , - w . ° • ° • . • , • • . • ° ° , . j

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~

, ~ : . ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . ~.~

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . ~ .

. , ° . ° . , , ~ . , ~ , , , ° , ~ , ~ , ° . . , , , ~ . . . , . ° . ~

. . . . . . ~ g

~ ° ° ° , ° ° ~ ° ° 0 ° , ° ° ° . , ° ° ° , ° ° ° ° . ° , ° ° ° . , °

m

m ° ° ° , ° ° ° , ° , ° , ° ° ° , ° , ° , ° ° ° , ° ° ° ° ° ° ° , ° ° ° ° , , , ° , ~

133

= > ~

~ z

~z~z

~ - z ~ z ~ o

r -

O B d

• 4NI ,o I I

H3.-I

+ HAN o z ~ o lOW

3 ~ d

~ 0. o o. (~ < P . . ~ o ( J =0 z dOO . ~ IAV

30 " eU NO"

HN ~

* 3NI o ~ x ~ o I I

0~ Ld z ~ W,J ~' . J • :~ h . ( l . ~ 1~3_4

f V l d

~ A N

I O N

O ~ Z ~ O H~d hJ Z ~ ~ J . J a : ~"~ • ~ h . a . o . 3~d

~dO dO3

,O ~AV 3 0 " +

o ~ - ~ o N O ' * .-I • ~ u. 0. 0. HN"

NH"

Fig. 8b. Sample tree where Grsa has applied

134 SERGE BOISVERT- ANDRI~ D U G A S - DENISE B~LANGER

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , ° , . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . 9 ~

: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 ~

• ~ ~

m

~ Z

o O~ld JNI II

nqd

¢c k~RN

e... o z c , ~ , ~ . ~ z w ~ g 3aa ~ d O

0 = ~ dO3 . ~ t,. cL cL ~ A V

3 0 " Q. t-.- (.,.~ O. ~2 - - ) - - Z NO"

O. C30. ¢J ~ v- .J 0 ¢J ~ ~ HN* NH"

~ O _ N • U . . ~ . : ~ o - A I "

e3 oz~ ha~ zh4 ha

Fig. 9a. Input structure


~i. i l e ~ e e e ee$ lse eee e e e e e ~

e , e , e e e , e e , , ° , ~ ° , , , l e , e , ° ° ~ Z

~z

. . . . . . . . . . . - . ~ z

II

• - g . . . . . . . ~ ~ . . . . . .

~ ° , ~ ° ° ° , 1 ° ° ° , , ° ° , . . • ~ ~ , ° ° ° , ° . , ° ° ° , . ° 1 ~

o z J ~ z

2 0 8 d

I I ~ z ~ W33

~ z ~ w z ~ Id

WnN

8 ~ d

3 ~ d

H d O

d O 3 - ~ A V 3 0 ° N O "

Fig. 9b. Output structure after cFm~ has applied

136 SERGE BOISVERT- ANDI~ DUGAS- DENISE BIILANGER

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ ,

Ii

J

. ~ : . . . . ~ . . . . . . . o ~ • ~ ~ . . . . . . . . . . . ~

°~

: . . . . . . ~ • ~ : . . . . . ~

: .~ ~ • ..°. .,~.0,~°..°.°

m z

° ° ~ ° ° ° , ~ ° , ° ° , , ° ° , , , ' ° , , ~ , ~ , ° ° ° . , , , ° , ° , , , ° . ~

Fig. lOa. Input structure

O~d 4N] TT

nqd

HnN zoH HHd

* dOC) 0~:~0 ~IAV

NO"

_~I. ' - )~_ N • b- . ~ - o :~ no "

O~d JNI II

N3J Flqd

HnN IOH ~d 3~d ~dO

OBLING: A TESTER POR TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMARS

• @ @ i @ I i • @ @ I @ @ @ @ • @ I i @ I @ i o I I • i I @ • i I i @ I • @ I i @ • •

kU

I I ~ l e o ~ $ e ~ I o o $ o i @ $ ~

. . . . . . g . . . . . . . . . . . . . o,.~

. . . . . . ~ g . . . . . ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . R ~

~d

I

M- ! ~ed

. , , ° . . . ° . , . , , . ° . , , , ° ~ z

o ~ . . . ~ . . N o

. , ° . , ~ . , . . . . ° ° . , . ° . . . ° ° . ° . , , .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ >

, ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ~ ° . ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° . ° ° , , ° . ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ~ z

. "-~ "'' -° • • " • "'''' • "°" "" " "" " • ''~

. . . . . , . . , , ° . . , . . . . . . . . . . . , ° . . . , . - , , .... . . ~

1 3 7

~ ~ z ~ o

÷

m 2 ~ N z

m

+

O ~ D O

÷

m o z ~ w z w w ~

08d ..4NI

I I

F mqd

083

k(nN

IOn

k4~d

38d

8dO

dO:)

SAY

30"

NO"

8N °

NH" 4I-

FIO"

dN"

08d 3NI

I I

H3../ f ) ld 083 HNN ION HSd 38,:t tldO dO3 dAY :)0"4. NO°., NN" NH" AI" NO-~- dN"

Fig. lob. Output structure after ~¢r~v has applied

138 SERGE BOISVERT - A N D l ~ DUGAS - DENISE B]~LANGER

: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~

u _

° ° , , * , ° 0 , ° , o $ 1 , $ 1 , , ,

. . . . ° . . . . . . . . ~ z

>.

m

~ Z . ° , - , , ,

: ~

" . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ ,

+

o x x ~ O

D.

Fig. 11a. Insertion of a node (before)

OBLING" A TESTER FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMARS 139

. • • . . . . • • , , . . . . . . . . . ~ . , ,

, . . . . . . , . . . . . ~ . = .

* * * e e e o e o $ o o e ~

o e~

x

tn

m o ~ o ~

~ Z ~ W Z ~ S ~ W

m

÷ ¢ •

Fig. 1lb. Insertion of a node (after)

140 SERGE BOISVERT- ANDRI~ DUGAS- DENISE BELANGER

8. CONCLUSIONS

OBJ-mC is a system which has been implemented in low-level tOR- T e N IV for the CDC 6400. It occupies 55,000s 60-bit words of memory. It has about 7000 lines of comments and instructions.

REFERENCES

N. CHOMSKY, Aspects of the Theory of syntax, Cambridge (Mass.), 1965.

A. Ducas, et al., Description syntaxique ~l/mentaire du franfais inspir~ des th/ories transformationnelles, Montr6al, 1969.

J. FIUEDM~, A Computer Model of Trans- formational Grammar, New York, 1971.

D. LIEBERMAN, (ed), Specification and Utilization of a Transformational Gram- mar, Yorktown Heights (N.Y.), 1966.

D. L. LotrD~, W. J. SCHO~N~, TOT: A Transformational Grammar Tester, in Proc. Spring Joint Computer Confer- ence, Part I, 1968, pp. 385-393.

R. PETRICK, A Recognition Procedure for Transformational Grammars, Ph.-D. Dissertation, Cambridge (Mass.), 1965.

J. R. Ross, A proposed rule of tree-pruning, NSF-17, Computation Laboratory, Harvard University, IV (1966), pp. 1-18.

A. M. 7.WICKY, J. FRIEDMAN, ]3. HALL, D. E. W.~a.g.F.R, The MrrRE Syntactic Analysis Procedure for Transformational Grammars, in Proc. Fall Joint Computer Conference, Vol. 27, Pt. 1, 1965, pp. 317-326.

obling: a tester for transformational …a transformational grammar tester is part of a strategy for...

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