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# A Freely Available Syntactic Lexicon for English

**Authors:** [Dania Egedi](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/authors/dania-egedi/), Patrick Martin · **Year:** 1994 · **Venue:** arXiv:cmp-lg/9410014; Proceedings of the International Workshop on Sharable Natural Language Resources, Nara, Japan, August 1994 **Link:** [arxiv.org/abs/cmp-lg/9410014](https://arxiv.org/abs/cmp-lg/9410014) · **Licence:** arXiv — no licence stated — summary only

[**6** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W1617602431) openalex · 2026-10-18[**3** citations in our library](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/cited-by/egedi-1994-freely-available-syntactic-lexicon-english/) of the 140673 papers whose bibliographies we read[arXiv:cmp-lg/9410014 · Proceedings of the International Workshop on Sharable Natural Language Resources, Nara, Japan, August 1994](https://openalex.org/S4306400194)

- [Publisher's page](https://arxiv.org/abs/cmp-lg/9410014)
- [PDF](https://arxiv.org/pdf/cmp-lg/9410014)
- [arXiv cmp-lg/9410014](https://arxiv.org/abs/cmp-lg/9410014)
- [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W1617602431)

**Authors (2)**

1. [Dania Egedi](https://openalex.org/A5044236700) h 6 · 231 citations · 19 works
2. Patrick Martin

Citations and author metrics from openalex (2026-10-18); authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

The paper describes a syntactic lexicon for English built for the XTAG parser. It starts from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English, then corrects and extends the entries by hand. It has about 37,000 entries across eight parts of speech. Each entry has an index (the uninflected form), an entry, a part of speech, a frame (the syntactic environment, for example transitive, sentential complement, or pre-verb-phrase adverb), and a feature field that restricts the frame (for example plural only, wh-word, or infinitive complement). The lexicon is stored as a flat file and as a hashed database, with C and Lisp access. Coverage is measured on four tagged corpora: 80.2% of word occurrences in WSJ, 80.7% in Brown, 88.6% in IBM and 73.6% in ATIS. Most missing items are nouns and proper nouns (66.8% to 81.4% of the misses by corpus).

## Ideas

- I1. `world/src/dictionary.rs` and `en/src/dict.rs`: add a frame field to the pupil dictionary, so that each verb records its complement pattern (intransitive, transitive, with a sentential complement). Use it to check the verb-argument structure of a parse and to flag clauses that break the pattern, with the reason written out.
- I2. A determiner feature for nouns: mark each noun as "determiner required", "determiner not required", or "plural only", and use it as a hard constraint in the dependency parser (`en/src/parse.rs`), so that "a jealousy" is penalised and "a man" is not.
- I3. Coverage report by part of speech, as in the paper's Table 6: for `en/src/tok.rs` plus `en/src/morph.rs`, report the share of unknown tokens by tag on UD EWT dev, to show where the lexicon is thin (the paper finds nouns and adjectives, not verbs).
- I4. Negative control: remove the frame field for a random subset of verbs and show the parser's arc accuracy on those verbs falls, so the gain from the frame is measured and not assumed.

## For Mova

The chapters are [19. The lexicon: vocabulary, multiword expressions and register](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/19-lexicon-mwe-register/) (lexicon design), [13. Verbs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/13-verbs/) (complement frames) and [11. Nouns](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/11-nouns/) (determiner features). The code is `en/src/dict.rs`, `world/src/dictionary.rs` and `en/src/parse.rs`. Measures: per-POS coverage on a fixed corpus, and LAS on UD EWT dev with and without the frame constraint. Because the source licence is not stated, use the paper for ideas only and build any frame data from Mova's own rules.

Topics: [Part-of-speech tagging](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/topics/part-of-speech-tagging/)

## Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [arXiv cmp-lg/9410014](https://arxiv.org/abs/cmp-lg/9410014)

```
@misc{egedi1994freely,
  title = {{A Freely Available Syntactic Lexicon for English}},
  author = {Egedi, Dania and Martin, Patrick},
  year = {1994},
  eprint = {cmp-lg/9410014},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/cmp-lg/9410014}
}
```

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## References

12 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet.

1. Carroll, J. and Grover, C. (1989). The Derivation of a Large Computational Lexicon for English from LDOCE. In B. Boguraev and E. Briscoe (eds.) Computational Lexicography for Natural Language Processing, Harlow, UK: Longman, 177-134. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Carroll%2C+J%2E+and+Grover%2C+C%2E+%281989%29%2E+The+Derivation+of+a+Large+Computational+Lexicon+for+English+from+LDOCE%2E+In+B%2E+Boguraev+and+E%2E+Briscoe+%28eds%2E%29+Computational+Lexicography+for+Natural+Language+Processi)
2. Conlon, S. Pin-Hgern. (1994). The IIT Lexical Database: Dream and Reality. In A. Zampolli, N. Calzolari, M. Palmer (eds.), Current Issues in Computational Linguistics: In Honour of Don Walker, Giardini with Kluwer. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Conlon%2C+S%2E+Pin%2DHgern%2E+%281994%29%2E+The+IIT+Lexical+Database%3A+Dream+and+Reality%2E+In+A%2E+Zampolli%2C+N%2E+Calzolari%2C+M%2E+Palmer+%28eds%2E%29%2C+Current+Issues+in+Computational+Linguistics%3A+In+Honour+of+Don+Walker%2C+Giardin)
3. Cowie, A.P. and Mackin, R., eds. (1975). Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English, Volume 1, Oxford University Press, London. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Cowie%2C+A%2EP%2E+and+Mackin%2C+R%2E%2C+eds%2E+%281975%29%2E+Oxford+Dictionary+of+Current+Idiomatic+English%2C+Volume+1%2C+Oxford+University+Press%2C+London%2E)
4. Doran, C., Egedi, D., Hockey, B.A., Srinivas, B., Zaidel, M. (1994). XTAG System - A Wide Coverage Grammar for English. In Proceedings of the 16 th International Conference on Computational Linguistics (COLING ’94), Kyoyo, Japan, August. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Doran%2C+C%2E%2C+Egedi%2C+D%2E%2C+Hockey%2C+B%2EA%2E%2C+Srinivas%2C+B%2E%2C+Zaidel%2C+M%2E+%281994%29%2E+XTAG+System+%2D+A+Wide+Coverage+Grammar+for+English%2E+In+Proceedings+of+the+16+th+International+Conference+on+Computational+Linguistic)
5. Guthrie, L., Rauls, V., Luo, T., Bruce, R. (1993). LEXI-CAD/CAM. Technical Report MCCS-93-259, Computing Research Laboratory, New Mexico State University. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Guthrie%2C+L%2E%2C+Rauls%2C+V%2E%2C+Luo%2C+T%2E%2C+Bruce%2C+R%2E+%281993%29%2E+LEXI%2DCAD%2FCAM%2E+Technical+Report+MCCS%2D93%2D259%2C+Computing+Research+Laboratory%2C+New+Mexico+State+University%2E)
6. Hornby A. S., ed. (1974). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English, Third Edition, Oxford University Press, London. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Hornby+A%2E+S%2E%2C+ed%2E+%281974%29%2E+Oxford+Advanced+Learner%E2%80%99s+Dictionary+of+Current+English%2C+Third+Edition%2C+Oxford+University+Press%2C+London%2E)
7. Joshi, A., Levy, L. and Takahashi, M. (1975). Tree Adjunct Grammars. Journal of Computer and System Sciences. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Joshi%2C+A%2E%2C+Levy%2C+L%2E+and+Takahashi%2C+M%2E+%281975%29%2E+Tree+Adjunct+Grammars%2E+Journal+of+Computer+and+System+Sciences%2E)
8. Karp, D., Schabes, Y., Zaidel, M., Egedi, D. (1992). A Freely Available Wide Coverage Morphological Analyzer for English. In Proceedings of the 15 th International Conference on Computational Linguistics (COLING ’92), Nantes, France, August. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Karp%2C+D%2E%2C+Schabes%2C+Y%2E%2C+Zaidel%2C+M%2E%2C+Egedi%2C+D%2E+%281992%29%2E+A+Freely+Available+Wide+Coverage+Morphological+Analyzer+for+English%2E+In+Proceedings+of+the+15+th+International+Conference+on+Computational+Linguist)
9. Macleod, C., Grishman, R. and Meyers, A. (1994). Creating a Common Syntactic Dictionary of English. In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Sharable Natural Language Resources, Nara, Japan, August. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Macleod%2C+C%2E%2C+Grishman%2C+R%2E+and+Meyers%2C+A%2E+%281994%29%2E+Creating+a+Common+Syntactic+Dictionary+of+English%2E+In+Proceedings+of+the+International+Workshop+on+Sharable+Natural+Language+Resources%2C+Nara%2C+Japan%2C+Au)
10. Santorini, B. (1990). Part-of-Speech Tagging Guidelines for the Penn TreeBank Project. Technical report MS-CIS-90-47, Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Pennsylvania. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Santorini%2C+B%2E+%281990%29%2E+Part%2Dof%2DSpeech+Tagging+Guidelines+for+the+Penn+TreeBank+Project%2E+Technical+report+MS%2DCIS%2D90%2D47%2C+Department+of+Computer+and+Information+Science%2C+University+of+Pennsylvania%2E)
11. Seltzer, M. and Yigit, O. (1991). A new hashing package for UNIX. In USENIX, Winter. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Seltzer%2C+M%2E+and+Yigit%2C+O%2E+%281991%29%2E+A+new+hashing+package+for+UNIX%2E+In+USENIX%2C+Winter%2E)
12. The XTAG Project (1994). A Feature-Based, Lexicalized Tree Adjoining Grammar (FB-LTAG) for English. Manuscript, University of Pennsylvania. In Progress. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=The+XTAG+Project+%281994%29%2E+A+Feature%2DBased%2C+Lexicalized+Tree+Adjoining+Grammar+%28FB%2DLTAG%29+for+English%2E+Manuscript%2C+University+of+Pennsylvania%2E+In+Progress%2E)