Case Systems for Natural Language
Abstract
In many languages (e.g. Latin, Greek, Russian, Turkish, German) the relationship of a noun phrase to the rest of a sentence is indicated by altered forms of the noun. The possible relationships are called (surface) 'cases'. Because (1) it is difficult to specify semantic-free selection rules for the cases and (2) related phenomena based on prepositions or word order appear in apparently case-less languages, many have argued that studies of cases should focus on meaning, i.e. on 'deep cases'. A representative sample of proposed case systems is examined. Issues such as surface versus deep versus conceptual levels of cases, and the efficiency of the representations implicit in a case system are also discussed.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1975
- Accession Number
- ADA012530
Entities
People
- Bertram C. Bruce
Organizations
- BBN Technologies