[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/)

[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [docs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/) / [dialects](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/) / mova — Mova's dialect

- [seeds](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/) — 14
- [all 14 pages in this folder and below →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/all/)

# `mova` — Mova's dialect

Mova has its own dialect based on the latest UD at any given time — so future 2.19 changes can already be used — and also based on alternative UD dialects, whose changes are pulled into the dialect when they are judged good.

**What `mova` is** (details in [The Mova dialect: a UD metadialect, treebanks, and converters](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/docs/dialect/)):

- The internal dialect into which all treebanks and representations are converted: UD versions, the customs of individual treebanks, SUD, SD, classic PTB conversions. The `en` annotator learns on it. From it we convert to any target, and quality is measured on each treebank's gold data through the reverse converter.
- **Base** — UD 2.18 with EWT conventions (registry `en/data/ud-registry-en.tsv`).
- **Layers on top of the base:** `ud-next` — changes after 2.18 that will go into 2.19 (`dialects/ud-next/`); borrowings from alternative dialects; own normalizations: `det:poss` → `nmod:poss`, `:tmod`/`:npmod` → `:unmarked`, FEATS from the subject.
- **Selection rule:** take whatever is more consistent and more informative and can be converted to the standard without loss. A lossy target is only an export target, never the base.

This folder holds the decisions on `ud-next` changes and on discrepancies between the 2.18 guidelines and the EWT data, each as a separate seed in `seeds/`. **Decided 2026-09-26:** every proposal in the table is taken as proposed. Accepted: 11; "wait" — watched until the 2.19 data (freeze 01.11.2026); "do not accept" — no. Principle: changes from other dialects are pulled into this one when they are judged good.

## Decisions

| topic | origin | decision | why, briefly | effect on export |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [wh-case](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/wh-case/) | ud-next, `_en/pos/PRON.md` | **accept** | case shows the role of *who* in the clause; lemma *who* — as in GUM, GENTLE, LinES, ParTUT | in 2.18 — drop `Case`, lemma from form; identity on EWT |
| [discourse-adverbs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/discourse-adverbs/) | ud-next `_u-dep/discourse.md`; 2.18 discrepancy | **accept** | the boundary is by word class; 2.18 already excluded ADV | 9 EWT tokens (GUM — 78) will diverge from gold, but not from the guideline |
| [features-context](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/features-context/) | ud-next, `changes.md` No. 18 | **accept** the principle; **wait** on `Exponence` | EWT already does this; form wins over semantic agreement; `Exponence` values do not exist yet | no change |
| [xpos-not-empty](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/xpos-not-empty/) | ud-next, validator 0.2.8 | **accept** | otherwise a 2.19 validator error | writer gate |
| [feat-layer-ids](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/feat-layer-ids/) | ud-next, `feat-layers.md` | **accept** | a layer is only `[a-z]+` | does not apply to en |
| [spoken-subtypes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/spoken-subtypes/) | ud-next, fr; #1290 | **wait** | no universal decision and no English gold data | the subtype is dropped without loss |
| [no-effect](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/no-effect/) | ud-next: `expl:*`, validator data, tools, treebank list, other languages; 2.18: v1 labels | **accept as is / not applicable**; do not take `uposf→xpos` into the pipeline | no effect on English annotation | — |
| [iobj-sole](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/iobj-sole/) | 2.18 discrepancy | **accept** the 2.12 amendment, as EWT does | `iobj` with *ask/tell/allow X to* is more informative than `obj`; the lexicon decides the boundary | identity |
| [to-phrase-obl](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/to-phrase-obl/) | 2.18 discrepancy | **accept** `obl` | 1285 : 0 in EWT; `nmod` in the text is a v1 leftover | identity |
| [imperative-do](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/imperative-do/) | 2.18 discrepancy | **accept** the EWT custom (`Imp\|Fin`) | the same for *Go!* and *Don't go!*; 98 of 106 | 8 EWT exceptions will diverge; the letter of `VerbForm.md` is derived deterministically |
| [subjunctive](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/subjunctive/) | 2.18 discrepancy | **accept** `Mood=Sub` | a clause feature; 57 in EWT, present in GUM and ParTUT | identity; the letter of `Mood.md` is derived deterministically |
| [modal-mood](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/modal-mood/) | 2.18 discrepancy; #1118 | **wait** | `Mood=Pot/Nec` is outside the en registry; no decision | no change |
| [depictives](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/depictives/) | 2.18 discrepancy | **accept** `advcl` | one answer instead of three; 22 in EWT | identity |
| [clausal-predicate](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/clausal-predicate/) | 2.18 discrepancy | **accept** `nsubj:outer` | 257 in EWT, 0 of the old analysis | identity |

**Summary:**

- accept — 11;
- "as is" or "not applicable" — 5 (in `no-effect`);
- wait — 3: `Exponence`, spoken-language subtypes, `Mood` of modals;
- do not accept — 1: the `uposf→xpos` script in the pipeline.

**Only 3 proposals change `mova` annotation compared with EWT 2.18:**

- *who* pronouns: 24 lemmas, 460 features;
- adverbs with `discourse`: 9 tokens;
- imperatives with `Inf`: 8 tokens.

The rest confirm that `mova` follows the EWT data where the `_en` text is out of date.

Rules for the first two are in [Converter mova ⇄ ud-next](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/ud-next/convert/). They were run with the `en convert` engine on EWT 2.18: the forward one changes 469 words, the reverse one restores everything except 9 `discourse`. The rule for the third is in [Main verb with imperative do — Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin — proposal](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/mova/seeds/imperative-do/), for [EWT ↔ mova — converter](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/treebanks/en/ewt/convert/); the engine changes exactly 8 words with it.

**Outside the decisions, under watch.** #1176: dependents of a nominalized adjective are `nmod`, not `obl`. The Core Group decision has been declared but not yet written into the guidelines. In EWT 2.18, ADJ in nominal position has `nmod` 83 times and `obl` 53. When it lands in `docs/`, it will be one more `ud-next` change with a simple rule `obl → nmod`. Other open discussions are in [ud-next — changes after UD 2.18 that will go into 2.19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/ud-next/).

- [next → UD 2.18 — the standard](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/ud-2.18/)
- [↑ back to dialects/](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/dialects/)