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UD for Ruuli

Tokenization and Word Segmentation

• Words are generally delimited by whitespace. Exceptions are described below.

• Multiword tokens in Ruuli are formed in the presence of clitics, which phonologically and orthographically attach to the neighboring word. The clitics are:

  • Locative enclitics =wo (16.LOC), =ku (17.LOC), =mu (18.LOC), =yo (23.LOC)
  • Comitative n’= (phonologically reduced form of na)
    • Additive focus n’= (phonologically reduced form of na) and =na
  • Focus clitic =mbe
  • Contrastive topic =te
  • Subordinate conjunction n’= (phonologically reduced form of ni)
  • Relative pronouns, e.g., ky’ (reduced form of kye)

• According to typographical conventions, punctuation marks are attached to neighboring words. In annotation, they are tokenized as separate tokens, except for single quotation marks marking the phonologically reduced vowel of proclitics (e.g., n’abaizukulu “and the grandchildren”).

• There are no multiword tokens written with whitespace.

Morphology

Tags

• Ruuli uses 16 universal POS tags. The SYM category is not attested.

• Three types of words are tagged as PART:

  • Genitive markers, e.g., wa
  • Focus clitics mbe and na
  • Contrastive topic clitic te
  • Hortative ka

  These items are invariant function words that do not fit other major POS categories.

• The DET tag applies to determiners, including:

  • Demonstratives: ni (PROX), o (MED), di (DIST)
  • Indefinites: ndi “other”, mwe “some”
  • Total: buli “all”, ona “all”
  • Interrogatives: ingai, mekai “how much/many”

  Determiners agree with the noun in noun class. Forms are tagged as DET when modifying a noun and as PRON when functioning as the head of a nominal phrase. Additionally, the following are tagged as PRON:

  • Possessive pronouns (e.g., wange “my”), as they carry two noun classes rather than one
  • Interrogatives: naani “who”, (ki)ki “what”
  • Relative pronoun e “which”

• There are three copulas, annotated with the universal tag AUX and additionally with the language-specific tag COP in XPOS:

  • The semantically empty copular verb li
  • The copula ta, in many uses equivalent with li; ta is common in locative predication and in a predicative possession construction with the adposition na “with”.
  • The copula ni, which is used for argument and adjunct focus.

• Four items can be used as auxiliaries, in which case they are tagged as AUX:

  • The verbs aba “to go” and iza “to come” when immediately followed by an infinitive to form periphrastic future constructions; otherwise aba and iza are interpreted as lexical verbs and tagged as VERB
  • The verb bba “to be, to exist” when immediately followed by a finite verb and forms with it a complex temporal-aspectual construction; otherwise bba is interpreted as a lexical verb and tagged as VERB
  • The copula li “to be” when followed by an infinitive or a finite verb to form a complex temporal-aspectual construction; otherwise li is used in non-verbal predication and tagged as the universal AUX and the language-specific COP in XPOS

• Ruuli distinguishes three main verbal forms:

  • Finite (VerbForm=Fin), tagged VERB/AUX
  • Infinitive (VerbForm=Inf), tagged VERB
  • Verbal noun (VerbForm=Vnoun), tagged NOUN

Features

Nominal Features

• Nominals (NOUN, PROPN) carry NounClass and may carry Referent=Yes for augment prefix.
• Agreeing parts of speech (ADJ, DET, some ADV, NUM, genitive PART, AUX, VERB) also carry nominal features.
• Locative ADP may carry locative noun classes (Bantu16, Bantu17, Bantu18, Bantu23).
• Verbal nouns (VerbForm=Vnoun) belong to Bantu15.

Pronouns, Determiners, and Adverbs

• PronType (Dem, Ind, Int, Prs, Rel, Tot) is used with PRON, DET, and ADV.
• Personal pronouns inflect for Person and either Number (1/2 person) or NounClass (3rd person).
• Possessive pronouns use layered features: Person[psor], Person[psed], or NounClass[psor], NounClass[psed].
• Demonstratives have Deixis (Prox, Med, Remt) and noun class agreement.
• The interrogative adverb tyai “how” agrees with the subject.

Verbal Features

• VERB may have:
  • Aspect (Hab, Perf, Pers, Prog)
  • Mood (Imp, Ind, Sub)
  • Tense (Fut, Nar, Past, Pres)
  • Voice (Appl, Cau, Pass, Rcp, Rfl)
  • VerbForm (Fin, Inf)

• Multiple aspect or voice values are represented using layered features (Aspect[add] and Voice[add]).

• Verbs agree with arguments using layered features:
  • Subject: Person, Number/NounClass
  • Object: Person[obj], Number[obj]/NounClass[obj]
  • Indirect object: Person[iobj], Number[iobj]/NounClass[iobj]
• Auxiliary verbs (aba, bba, iza) and copulas (li, ni, ta) are tagged AUX and carry tense/aspect and agreement.

Other Features

• Abbr=Yes for abbreviated PROPN
• Foreign=Yes for X
• Hort=Yes for hortative ka
• InfStruct (Foc, Top) for focus and topic clitics, copula ni
• NumForm and NumType for NUM
• Polarity for negation (ti, ndoo, ti-)

• Red=Yes for reduplication

• Not used: Animacy, Case, Clusivity, Definite, Degree, Evident, Gender, Polite, Reflex, Typo

Syntax

Core Arguments and Adjuncts

• Subjects (nsubj):
  • trigger agreement on the verb, realized as the subject prefix
  • do not take adpositions
  • typically clause-initial
  • correspond to semantic roles typical for subjects, such as the agent, the experiencer, the attitude holder
• Direct objects (obj, obj:appl, obj:caus):
  • may trigger agreement on the verb, realized as the object prefix
  • do not take adpositions
  • often follow the verb and in most cases follow the subject
  • correspond to semantic roles typical for objects, such as the patient or the theme
• Indirect objects (iobj, iobj:appl):
  • may trigger agreement on the verb, realized as the object prefix
  • do not take adpositions
  • typically follow the verb
  • the common semantic roles are the beneficiary or the recipient
• Adjuncts (obl):
  • typically adpositional phrases
  • sometimes realized with adverbs modifying the predicate
  • common semantic roles are the source, the goal, and the instrument
• Locative enclitics attach via advmod:loc.

Non-verbal Predication

• Ruuli uses:
  • zero copula
  • copulas li, ta, ni (tagged AUX)
  • negative elements ti, ndoo (tagged ADV)
  • semi-copular verb bba (tagged VERB)
• Clauses of proper inclusion, equation, and attribution may use copulas li, ta, ni, or zero copula (the latter only in the present tense with a non-pronominal subject).
  • Omukali musomesya. “The woman is a teacher.” (no copula)
  • Omukali ali/ata/niye musomesya. “The woman is a teacher.”
• Locative and possessive predication may use copulas li, ta, ni or the semi-copular verb bba.
  • Omukalia ali/ata/niye mu Kampala. “The woman is in Kampala.”
  • Omukali abba mu Kampala. “The woman stays in Kampala.”
• Benefaction clauses do not use a copula in the present tense and take copula li in past and future clauses.
  • Eitakali lya Banyala. “This land is for Banyala.” (no copula)
  • Eitakali lyaali lya Banyala. “This land was for Banyala.”
• Existential predication is expressed by a construction with the copula li and a locative enclitic.
  • Waliwo omuzumu. “There is a devil.”
• In negative non-verbal clauses:
  • Negative prefix ti- is added.
    • Omukali tali musomesya. “The woman is not a teacher.” (in tali, the /i/ of ti undergoes vowel elision)
  • ti can be used in present-tense clauses of proper inclusion, equation, and attribution with non-pronominal subjects.
    • Omukali ti musomesya. “The woman is not a teacher.”
  • ndoo can be used in existential negation.
    • Ndoowo mugaso. “There is no importance.”
• Annotation:
  • copulas li, ta, ni in non-existential clauses → cop
  • li and ndoo in existential clauses → root
  • ti → advmod:cop
  • bba → root

Relations Overview

• Subtypes used:

  • acl:relcl
  • advcl:relcl
  • advmod:cop
  • advmod:emph
  • advmod:loc
  • csubj:outer
  • flat:foreign
  • flat:name
  • flat:num
  • iobj:appl
  • nmod:desc
  • nmod:poss
  • nsubj:outer
  • obj:appl
  • obj:caus
  • obl:agent

• Not used: clf, compound, dep, expl, goeswith, list, orphan

Treebanks

There is one Ruuli UD treebanks:

• Ruuli-RDT

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