It is not always unambiguous what certain adjuncts (expressed by adverbs or prepositional phrases) are dependent on: they do not have to modify only one modification in the sentence but rather they can modify several modifications at the same time. Precise rules for cases of ambiguous dependency are still to be proposed; the following present only a temporary solution.
The basic annotation rule is as folllows:
if a free modification (expressed by a prepositional phrase or adverb) modifies a verb, it is dependent on this verb whether it enters into other semantic relations or not.
The cases of the so-called dual function are the only exception.
Examples:
There was an old man coming in a shabby coat. (Fig. 4.11)
He was restlessly pacing around the room.
and even:
She was quick to shut the door.
Dual function of a single modification - except for verbal complement
In this respect, the current annotation of the English data differs from the original annotation convention for the Czech data. For structures in which a modification has a dual (or multiple) function (i.e. it modifies several modifications at the same time but it is present only once in the surface structure, for stylistic or other reasons), the Czech annotation makes the modification depend on the node representing the lowest modification it can modify and it is assigned the functor adequate to its real position. For instance (Czech data):
I bought a belt for seventy CZK.
= For seventy
CZK.REG I bought a belt
for seventy
CZK.RSTR. (Fig. 4.13)
He repaid his debts to the insurance company.
= To the insurance
company.ADDR he repaid his debts to the insurance
company.ADDR
and also
= To the insurance company.ADDR he repaid his debts to the
insurance company.ADDR
(debt is regarded as nominalization - see
Section 10, “Nominalizations” - and that's why its modification
has a functor for inner participants)
The automatic pre-annotation of English data follows the original Penn Treebank annotation, whose guidelines say that the modification is to be put to the position most sensible in relation to the context, or, when all solutions would be semantically equally good, the modification is to be placed as high as possible. Our manual annotation respects the pre-annotation as far as the position of the modification is semantically acceptable.
There is no explicit indication that the modification has a dual function (unless it is a verbal complement, see Section 1.1.1, “Predicative complement”) in either the Czech or the English annotation. The original Penn Treebank annotation guidelines had introduced a special annotation resolution for marking multiple dependencies (“Permanent Predictable Ambiguity”). However, it has only been used 40 times in the entire corpus as it was very time-consuming and the annotators had clearly preferred to make one decision about the position of the modification instead. Those 40 occurrences of PPA are not reflected by our automatic pre-annotation at all.
Mutual relation of two or more locative/directional or temporal modifications. Also modifications with the same function (temporal or locative/directional), adjacent in the surface word order, enter into unclear semantic relations. In principle, there are the following three cases:
apposition of two temporal or locative/directional modifications. Only those combinations are considered appositions in which the individual modifications are separated by a comma or appositional conjunction; e.g.:
He stayed at home, in Prague.
one temporal or locative/directional modification dependent on another. The following cases are considered cases of one modification dependent on another:
one modification is introduced by the preposition of. For example:
He arrived on Thursday 5th (of) January.
APP1997. (Fig. 4.15)cases of the so-called extent or time-span direct object further modified by a prepositional phrase. For example:
It is located two kilometers.LOC from the river.
DIR1. (Fig. 4.16)She had got dressed half.
TWHENan hour.MATbefore the performance started.TWHEN.one modification is required by the valency of the other. Similar to these are cases in which the second modification (expressed by a prepositional phrase) is a more or less valency modification with respect to the preceding modification (expressed by an adverb). For example:
He arrived soon.
TWHENafter Christmas.TWHENIt happened far.
LOCfrom Moscow.DIR1
several sister modifications. If there are two (or more) temporal, locative/directional (or other) modifications present in the construction at the same time and each of the modifications is relatively independent, the entire construction is represented as involving two or more sister modifications dependent on the same governing node (with the same functor): their order can be changed without any change in meaning; any of the modifications can be omitted without any damage to the grammatical structure of the sentence. Both modifications usually relate to the same situational moment and to the same location; one of them gives a general information and the other one is more specific. For example:
We will meet at the Central station.
LOCin the hall.LOC(Fig. 4.17)They arrived in February.
TWHEN1999.TWHEN.
Dependency relations in noun phrases (concord of two nouns). Also noun phrases which consist of a sequence of nouns in the same form (not in apposition) present a case of ambiguous semantic relations. Precise rules are available for two-member noun phrases, in which one of the nouns is a proper noun, and for bigger noun phrases denoting persons, in which one of the nouns in the sequence is the name of the person:
the noun phrase is a name of a person. If a two-member noun phrase is a name of a single person, the node representing the proper noun is the governing node of the entire phrase. The node representing the common noun depends on the node for the proper noun and has the
RSTRfunctor; e.g.:Give it to our director.
RSTRNovak. (Fig. 4.18)Bigger noun phrases. In bigger noun phrases denoting persons in which one of the nouns is the name of the person, all common nouns depend on the proper noun and have the
RSTRfunctor; e.g.:the most desired speaker
.DENOMColonel.RSTRJan.RSTRLandgerman.RSTRthe noun phrase is not a name of a person. If the noun phrase is a name of an animal, an inanimate object or another phenomenon, the governing node is a common noun. The node for the proper noun depends on the commnon noun and has the
IDfunctor; e.g.:There are steamboats on the Vltava.
IDriver. (Fig. 4.19)For more information on proper nouns with descriptors (common nouns) which are not integral parts of the name see Section 3, “Identifying expressions”).
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