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Syntax

Syntactic dependency labels in Japanese are defined in conformity with the principles of Universal Dependencies as far as possible. However, the definition of Japanese syntax under Universal Dependencies involves several issues to be discussed. For example, the definition of “clause” is not clear, while dependency labels rely on the definition of “clause”, such as the distinction between “nsubj” and “csubj”. These issues are detailed in the section Specific Constructions, while we still have unclear cases.

In the following, we give a rough sketch of dependency labels with a couple of examples. See the section Japanese dependency relations for the definition of each label.

Core dependents of clausal predicates

label description examples
nsubj Nominal subjects (typically a postpositional phrase with a case marker が / ga or sometimes with は / wa)</td> 太郎 が / Taro ga “Taro-NOM” <-nsubj- 走る / hashiru “run”
nsubjpass Nominal subjects in passive forms 太郎 が / Taro ga “Taro-NOM” <-nsubjpass- ほめ られる / home rareru “praise-PASSIVE”
dobj Direct object (typically a postpositional phrase with a case marker を / o) ご飯 を / gohan o “rice-ACC” <-dobj- 食べる / taberu “eat”
iobj Indirect object (typicall a postpositional phrase with a case marker に / ni) 花子 に / Hanako ni “Hanako-ACC” <-iobj- あげる / ageru “give”
csubj Clausal subjects introduced by a nominal marker の / no 太郎 が 怒ら れる の は / Taro ga okora reru no ha “that-TOPIC Taro is punished” <-csubj- いやだ / iyada “dislike”
csubjpass Clausal subjects in passive forms 言っ た の が / It ta no ga “that-NOM (someone) said” <-csubjpass- 悔やま れる / kuyama reru “regret-PASSIVE”
ccomp Complement clause (typically a clause introduced by と / to) きれい だ と / kirei da to “that (something) is beautiful” <-ccomp- 思う / omou “think”
xcomp Not used in Japanese  

Non-core dependents of clausal predicate

label description examples
nmod Prepositional/noun phrases modifying another phrase 北海道 へ / Hokkaido e “Hokkaido-TO” <-nmod- 行く / iku “go”
明日 / ashita “tomorrow” <-nmod- 行く iku “go”
advcl Subordinate clause 食べ た なら / tabe ta nara “if (someone) ate <-advcl- 行く / iku “go”
advmod Adverbial modifiers ゆっくり / yukkuri “slowly” <-advmod- 走る hashiru “run”
neg Negation with ない / nai, ず / zu 食べ tabe “eat” -neg-> ない / nai “not”

Noun dependents

label description examples
nummod Numeral classifier phrases 3 冊 の / san satsu no “three books of” <-nummod- 本 / hon “books”
appos Appositive relations 形態素 解析 器 / keitaiso kaiseki ki “morphological analyzer” <-appos- Mecab / mekabu “mecab”
nmod Prepositional phrases modifying another phrase リンゴ の / ringo no “of apple” <-nmod- ジュース jusu “juice”
acl Relative clause, clausal complement of nouns 太郎 が 食べ た / Taro ga tabe ta “Taro ate” <-acl- リンゴ / ringo “apple”
ほめ られた / home rareta “praise-PASSIVE” <-acl- こと / koto “fact”
amod Adjectival modifiers; adjectives with arguments are tagged as “acl” きれいな / kireina “beautiful” <-amod- リンゴ / ringo “apple”
det この / kono “this”, こんな / konna “this”, あの / ano “that”, あんな / anna “that”, その / sono “that”, そんな / sonna “that”, どの / dono “which”, どんな / donna “which” modifying a noun この / kono “this” <-det- 本 / hon “book”
neg Negation with 不 / fu, 非 / hi 不 / fu “not” <-neg- 支持 / shiji “support”

Case-marking, prepositions, possessive

label description examples
case Postpositions and particles attach to a noun phrase 太郎 / Taro “Taro” -case-> が / ga “NOM”, 太郎 / Taro “Taro” -case-> の / no “of”, 東京 / Tokyo “Tokyo” -case-> へ / e “to”

Compounding and unanalyzed

label description examples
compound Noun compounds, verb compounds 構文 / kobun “syntax” <-compound- 解析 / kaiseki “analysis”, 泳ぎ / oyogi “swim” <-compound- 着く / tsuku “reach”
name Proper noun compounds 山田 / Yamada “Yamada” -name-> 太郎 / Taro “Taro”
mwe Multi-word functional expressions に / ni -mwe-> よって / yotte “by”, かも / kamo -mwe-> しれ / shire -mwe-> ない / nai (maybe)
foreign Foreign words in non-Japanese characters google <-foreign- docs
goeswith used when a word is somehow split into tokens  

Loose joining relations

label description examples
list Listing 1. 東京 / Tokyo “Tokyo” <-list- 2. 大阪 / Osaka “Osaka”</td></tr>
dislocated a topic phrase (typically a prepositionalphrase with topic marker は / ha) 象 は / zo wa “elephant-TOPIC” <-dislocated- 鼻 が 長い / hana ga nagai “nose is long”
parataxis Listing of sentences 「 太郎 は 花子 が 好き 。 / Taro wa Hanako ga suki . “Taro loves Hanako.” <-parataxis- 次郎 は 梅子 が 好き 。 / Jiro wa Umeko ga suki . “Jiro loves Umeko” 」 と 三郎 が 言っ た / to Saburo ga it ta “Saburo said”
remnant used to annotate head-less coordination (see the definition in Universal Dependencies for details)  
reparandum speech repair  

Special clausal dependents

label description examples
vocative dialogue participant names in text 太郎 / Taro “Taro” <-vocative- 食べ なさい / tabe nasai “eat-IMPERATIVE”
discourse discourse elements like interjection and emoticons あー / a “ah” <-discourse- つかれ た tsukare ta “tired”
expl not used in Japanese  
aux auxiliary verbs and particles that attach to verbs 食べ tabe “eat” -aux-> た / ta “PAST”, 行き / iki “go” -aux-> ます / masu “POLITE” -aux-> か / ka “QUESTION”
auxpass passive auxiliary 食べ / tabe “eat” -auxpass-> られる / rareru “PASSIVE”
cop copular auxiliary だ / da 太郎 は / Taro wa “Taro-TOPIC” <-nsubj- 学生 / gakusei “student” -cop-> だ / da “COPULA”
mark subordinating conjunction, conjunctive particle, complementizer (と / to, か / ka) 東京 へ 行く / Tokyo e iku “go to Tokyo” -mark-> と / to “that” 言っ た / it ta “said”
punct punctuations 太郎 が 走る / Taro ga hashiru “Taro runs” -punct-> 。</td>

Coordination

label description examples
conj coordination (太郎 / Taro “Taro” -cc-> と / to “and”) -conj-> 次郎 / Jiro “Jiro”
cc conjunction, coordinating conjunctive particle (e.g. と / to, や / ya) See the example above
punct punctuations (太郎 / Taro “Taro” -punct-> 、) -conj-> 次郎 / Jiro “Jiro”

Other

label description examples
root head of a sentence  
dep undefined