Learning from the computational modelling of Plains Cree verbs

Harrigan, Atticus; Schmirler, Katherine; Arppe, Antti; Antonsen, Lene; Trosterud, Trond; Wolvengrey, Arok

doi:10.1007/s11525-017-9315-x

Cited by 16 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Dunham (2014) created two morphological parsers which use Finite State Transducers (FST) to model the complex morphophonology of Blackfoot; it is possible that these could be modified for our use. There are other examples of FST parsers for Algonquian languages: for Cree see Arppe et al (2017) and Harrigan et al (2017); for Arapaho see Kazeminejad et al (2017). The current Plains Cree FST parser is available on github (https:// giell alt.…”

Section: Derivational and Inflectional Morphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Blackfoot Words: a database of Blackfoot lexical forms

Weber

Brown

Celli

et al. 2023

Lang Resources & Evaluation

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This paper describes the structure and creation of Blackfoot Words, a new relational database of lexical forms (inflected words, stems, and morphemes) in Blackfoot (Algonquian; ISO 639-3: bla). To date, we have digitized 63,493 individual lexical forms from 30 sources, representing all four major dialects, and spanning the years 1743–2017. Version 1.1 of the database includes lexical forms from nine of these sources. This project has two aims. The first is to digitize and provide access to the lexical data in these sources, many of which are difficult to access and discover. The second is to organize the data so that connections can be made between instances of the “same” lexical form across all sources, despite variation across sources in the dialect recorded, orthographic conventions, and the depth of morpheme analysis. The database structure was developed in response to these aims. The database comprises five tables: Sources, Words, Stems, Morphemes, and Lemmas. The Sources table contains bibliographic information and commentary on the sources. The Words table contains inflected words in the source orthography. Each word is broken down into stems and morphemes which are entered into the Stems and Morphemes tables in the source orthography. The Lemmas table contains abstract versions of each stem or morpheme in a standardized orthography. Instances of the same stem or morpheme are linked to a common lemma. We expect that the database will support projects by the language community and other researchers.

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Section: Derivational and Inflectional Morphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Blackfoot Words: a database of Blackfoot lexical forms

Weber

Brown

Celli

et al. 2023

Lang Resources & Evaluation

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“…As an Algonquian language, Plains Cree is highly polysynthetic, with much of its morphological complexity manifesting in verbal morphology, with verbal prefixes largely supplanting adjectives and adverbs as distinct lexical classes (Wolfart, 1973). As with many American Indigenous languages, verbs make up the largest single portion of the lexicon, constituting as much as 79% of word types in existing corpora (Harrigan et al, 2017). There are substantial differences in the general lexicalisation patterns of Plains Cree and English (see section 5)…”

Section: Plains Creementioning

confidence: 99%

Computational Analysis versus Human Intuition: A Critical Comparison of Vector Semantics with Manual Semantic Classification in the Context of Plains Cree

2021

Self Cite

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A persistent challenge in the creation of semantically classified dictionaries and lexical resources is the lengthy and expensive process of manual semantic classification, a hindrance which can make adequate semantic resources unattainable for under-resourced language communities. We explore here an alternative to manual classification using a vector semantic method, which, although not yet at the level of human sophistication, can provide usable first-pass semantic classifications in a fraction of the time. As a case example, we use a dictionary in Plains Cree (ISO: crk, Algonquian, Western Canada and United States)

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“…VTA verbs in Michif are the only class which has direction, where actions are either direct or inverse depending on a hierarchy of actors as in other Algonquian languages such as Plains Cree (Harrigan et al, 2017). In the direct VTA forms, the 'ni-/ki-/∅-' prefix refers to the subject, while the person marking suffix refers to the object.…”

Section: Michif Linguistic Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The modelling of obviation in Michif takes the opposite approach of the Plains Cree FST in Harrigan et al (2017). In LI VERB KAA-OOSHITAHK DI MICHIF, the direction and person morpheme are treated as a single unit.…”

Section: Lexicon Vaiobviative1mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recent years there has been an increase in computational linguistic analysis of Indigenous languages spoken in what is now called Canada, and in particular Algonquian languages such as East Cree (Arppe et al, 2017a), Plains Cree (Harrigan et al, 2017), and Odawa (Bowers et al, 2017). This paper adds Michif-a mixed language of Cree and French origin-to the list with a description of LI VERB KAA-OOSHITAHK DI MICHIF.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

On the Computational Modelling of Michif Verbal Morphology

Davis¹,

Santos

Souter³

2021

Proceedings of the 16th Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics: Main Volume

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This paper presents a finite-state computational model of the verbal morphology of Michif. Michif, the official language of the Métis peoples, is a uniquely mixed language with Algonquian and French origins. It is spoken across the Métis homelands in what is now called Canada and the United States, but it is highly endangered with less than 100 speakers. The verbal morphology is remarkably complex, as the already polysynthetic Algonquian patterns are combined with French elements and unique morpho-phonological interactions. The model presented in this paper, LI VERB KAA-OOSHITAHK DI MICHIF handles this complexity by using a series of composed finite-state transducers to model the concatenative morphology and phonological rule alternations that are unique to Michif. Such a rulebased approach is necessary as there is insufficient language data for an approach that uses machine learning. A language model such as LI VERB KAA-OOSHITAHK DI MICHIF furthers the goals of Indigenous computational linguistics in Canada while also supporting the creation of tools for documentation, education, and revitalization that are desired by the Métis community.

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Learning from the computational modelling of Plains Cree verbs

Cited by 16 publications

References 10 publications

Blackfoot Words: a database of Blackfoot lexical forms

Blackfoot Words: a database of Blackfoot lexical forms

Computational Analysis versus Human Intuition: A Critical Comparison of Vector Semantics with Manual Semantic Classification in the Context of Plains Cree

On the Computational Modelling of Michif Verbal Morphology

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