Data-driven Valence Typology
Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu and Lars Hellan
Nov. 7, 2011
Data-driven Valence Typology (DVT) is a project where we seek to represent the characteristic sentence construction types of a language – called its c-profile - in a transparent, detailed and non-theory-biased format, drawing from a common, restricted repertory of analytic-descriptive primitives [1]. By adhering to a common classification system, DVT in principle allows for its data to be searchable in a relational database. DVT has so far been developed with a view to cover significantly different languages (Ga from the Niger-Congo family Kwa, Norwegian from Germanic, and Kistaninya from Ethio-Semitic), while in a current phase the project has a more ‘micro-comparative’ focus, in showing how a profile for one language of a given family can be derived from the c-profile of another language in the same family. In Germanic we envisage such extensions with regard English and German, and in Kwa/Gur with regard to Dangme and Gurene.
In situating DVT among current projects and initiatives, it can perhaps be most directly related to VerbNet [2], its non-computational predecessor in Levin's work Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag
[3]
[1]
Leipzig Valency Classes Project [1]