Long Sentence Analysis by Domain-Specific Pattern Grammar 
Shinichi Doi, Kazunori Muraki, Shinichiro Kamei & Kiyoshi Yamabana 
NEC Corp. C&C Information Technology Research Laboratories 
4-1-1, Miyazaki, Miyamae-ku, Kawasaki 216, JAPAN 
1 Long Sentence Analysis 
We propose a method for analyzing long complex 
and compound sentences that utilizes global struc- 
ture analysis with domain-specific pattern grammar. 
Previously, long sentence analysis with global in- 
formation used the following methods: two-level 
analysis--global structure analysis of long sentences 
with domain-independent function words and pars- 
ing of their constituents\[Doi et al., 1991\], and pat- 
tern matching--adaptation of domain-specific fixed 
pattern to input sentences. By utilizing domain- 
dependent information the latter method could an- 
alyze long sentences of that domain. But since the 
matching is made only on the surface the sentence 
isn't analyzed well when patterns appear recursively. 
2 Domain-Specific Pattern Grammar 
Our method analyzes the global structure of long 
sentences by using three knowledge-bases: domain- 
specific patterns that can be described as a phrase 
structure grammar, a list of keywords that denote 
constituents of the patterns, and a pure basic gram- 
mar. An input sentence is initially parsed and di- 
vided into its constituents with these knowledge- 
bases, and then each constituent is parsed with a 
general grammar. Each constituent must be guaran- 
teed uniformity by parsing with pure basic grammar. 
To obtain a pattern grammar of Japanese long 
sentences we analyzed the structures of about 750 
long sentences from the leads of news articles in a 
Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shinbun, and identified 
several fixed global patterns. An example of pat- 
tern grammar is shown in Fig. 1. Using the pattern 
grammar and keyword list(a-c), the global structure 
of the sentence(d) was analyzed as f). 
3 Conclusion 
Our method takes advantage of both two-level anal- 
ysis and pattern matching, and can deal with the 
irregular appearance of patterns including recursive 
patterns, ellipsis of constituents and patterns that 
appear in only part of the sentence. 
We have developed a Japanese lead analyzing sys- 
tem using a pattern grammar. We used this sys- 
tem with several 80-200 word Japanese leads such as 
the example sentence in Fig. 1., and obtained correct 
global structures and syntactic trees for them. 
References 
\[Doi et al., 1991\] Shinichi Doi, Kazunori Muraki, 
and Shinichiro Kamei. Lexical Discourse Gram- 
mar and its Application for Decision of Global De- 
pendency (II). In Proceedings WGNLC of the IE- 
ICE, NLC91-29(PRU91-64), 1991. (in Japanese) 
Fig. 1 ExRmple of Pattern Grammar and Keywords in Japanese 
a) pattern grammar (p. denotes phrase) 
statement report pattern 
:~ subject p. + date p. + situation p. + theme p. + direct statement p. + indirect statement p. 
b) keyword list for a) (see e)) 
c) pure basic grRmmar noun p. ::~ adnominal p. + noun p., verb p. ::~ adverbial p. + verb p. 
d) example sentence of Japanese lead 
Nakasone-shushou-wa 17-nichi, shuuin-honkaigi-de okonawareta kakutou-daihyou-shitsumon-deno touben-de, 
Kokka-himitsu-houan-nitsuite "kokueki-wo mamoru-tame-nimo nanrakano datouna sochi-ga hitsuyou"-to 
nobe, jimintou-giin-niyoru houan-sai-teishutsu-ni maemuki-no shisei-wo shimeshita. 
e) keywords in d) (mk. pp. denotes marking postposition) 
-wa(subject mk. pp.) / 17-nichi(day), / touben(answer)-de(location mk. pp.), / -nitsuite(theme mk. pp.) 
/ -to(quotation ink. pp.) nobe(said), / shisei(attitude)-wo(object mk. pp.) shirneshita(showed). 
f) global structure of d) 
subject p. : Nakasone-shushou-wa (Prime Minister Nakasone) 
date p. : 17-nichi, (on 17th.) 
situation p. : shuuin-honkaigi-de okonawareta kakutou-daihyou-shitsumon-deno touben-de, (in the answer 
to the party leaders' interpellations at the plenary session of the House of Representatives) 
theme p. : Kokka-hirnitsu-houan-nitsuite (about the National-Secret-Bill) 
direct : "kokueki-wo mamoru-tame-nimo nanrakano datouna sochi-ga hitsuyou"-to nobe, 
statement p. (said "some appropriate measures are needed to defend the national interest") 
indirect : jimintou-giin-niyoru houan-sai-teishutsu-ni maemuki-no shisei-wo shimashita. 
statement p. (showed a positive attitude toward re-introducing of the bill by the Liberal Democrats) 
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