A Computational Grammar of Bangla using the HPSG formalism: Developing the First Phase

Abstract

In this article we describe an endeavor to develop a computational grammar of Bangla in the Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG) formalism and the resultant first phase of such an undertaking. Although simplistic in its makeup the HPSG formalism is a highly developed framework which allows us to describe languages in terms of hierarchical feature structures making it a powerful tool for computational as well as psycholinguistic research whereby features specific to a language can be captured and simultaneously cross-linguistic features common to all languages i.e. language universals may be explored. To implement our grammar we used the Linguistic Knowledge Building (LKB) system - a powerful tool comprising both a syntactic and a semantic level that allows the user to parse as well generate by using the formalism to code in linguistic rules through feature structures and feature unification.  

Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics Vol.1(1) 2008, 199-220