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# A Hebrew Tree Bank Based on Cantillation Marks

**Authors:** [Andi Wu](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/authors/andi-wu/); Kirk Lowery · **Year:** 2006 · **Venue:** Proceedings of LREC 2006 (Fifth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation) **Link:** [aclanthology.org/L06-1002](https://aclanthology.org/L06-1002/) · library `lingbulk-2006-wu-hebrew-tree-bank-based-cantillation` · **Licence:** [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/) — summary only

[**2** citations in our library](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/cited-by/lingbulk-2006-wu-hebrew-tree-bank-based-cantillation/) of the 140673 papers whose bibliographies we read[Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC'06)](https://aclanthology.org/volumes/L06-1/)[licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)

- [Publisher's page](https://aclanthology.org/L06-1002/)
- [PDF](https://aclanthology.org/L06-1002.pdf)

**Authors (2)**

1. Andi Wu
2. Kirk Lowery

Citations and author metrics from OpenAlex (); authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

The Masoretic cantillation marks of the Hebrew Bible act as a punctuation system that splits each verse into nested units. The authors write the rules as a context-free grammar: conjunctive marks join words, disjunctive marks rank the breaks from Rank-1 (Soph Pasuq) down to Rank-5. A CYK parser with separate poetry (Psalms, Proverbs, Job) and prose grammars builds an XML tree bank of every verse. Of 23,213 verses, 23,099 get exactly one tree; the 174 that get several each contain a word with two marks. The authors read the result as a sign that both the grammar and the Masoretic annotation are highly consistent. The grammar uses binary rules, and the paper argues for them over flat ones.

## Ideas

- I1. Use the disjunctive rank as a deterministic chunker in the Hebrew reader: the Rank-2 mark (Athnach) gives the main break of a verse. Test whether that break agrees with the main split of the UD root in the `tools/hbo` output, and report the agreement.
- I2. Binary versus flat bracketing of runs of equal-rank breaks is a real design choice. Mova can run both on the same verses and measure which one matches the parser's constituents better, rather than adopting either by decree.
- I3. The 174 verses with words carrying two marks are a ready list of ambiguous cases. Use them as a test set for the pointed mode of the segmenter and for the cantillation reader.

## For Mova

I1 and I2 belong in [2. Cantillation: the accents (te'amim)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/02-cantillation/), and I2 also in [Syntax: the clause and the sentence](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/08-syntax/) as a soft bracketing constraint for `gparse` on Hebrew. I3 is a test for `tools/hbo` (pointed mode). The paper's licence is NC, so the verse data is for tests and measurements only, never for a release.

## Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work.

```
@inproceedings{wu2006hebrew,
  title = {{A Hebrew Tree Bank Based on Cantillation Marks}},
  author = {Wu, Andi and Lowery, Kirk},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC'06)},
  year = {2006},
  url = {https://aclanthology.org/L06-1002/}
}
```

- [← previous Symphonym: Universal Phonetic Embeddings for Cross-Script Name Matching](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/langstream-2026-gadd-symphonym-universal-phonetic-embeddings-cross/)
- [next → Creating Linked Data Morphological Language Resources with MMoOn - The Hebrew Morpheme Inventory](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/lingbulk-2016-klimek-creating-linked-data-morphological-language/)
- [↑ back to Ancient Hebrew](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo/)

## References

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

1. BFBS (2002). The Masoretes and Punctuation of Bibilcal Hebrew. British & Foreign Bible Society, Machine Assisted Translation Team. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=BFBS+%282002%29%2E+The+Masoretes+and+Punctuation+of+Bibilcal+Hebrew%2E+British+%26+Foreign+Bible+Society%2C+Machine+Assisted+Translation+Team%2E)
2. Groves, A & K. Lowery, eds. (2006). The Westminster Hebrew Bible Morphology Database. Philadelphia: Westminster Hebrew Institute. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Groves%2C+A+%26+K%2E+Lowery%2C+eds%2E+%282006%29%2E+The+Westminster+Hebrew+Bible+Morphology+Database%2E+Philadelphia%3A+Westminster+Hebrew+Institute%2E)
3. Jacobson, J.R. (2002). Chanting the Hebrew Bible. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Jacobson%2C+J%2ER%2E+%282002%29%2E+Chanting+the+Hebrew+Bible%2E+Philadelphia%3A+The+Jewish+Publication+Society%2E)
4. Price, J. (1990). The Syntax of Masoretic Accents in the Hebrew Bible. Lewiston/Queenston/Lampeter: The Edwin Mellen Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Price%2C+J%2E+%281990%29%2E+The+Syntax+of+Masoretic+Accents+in+the+Hebrew+Bible%2E+Lewiston%2FQueenston%2FLampeter%3A+The+Edwin+Mellen+Press%2E)
5. Richter, H. (2004). Hebrew Cantillation Marks and Their Encoding. [http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~hr/teami](http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~hr/teami). [↗](http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~hr/teami)
6. Selkirk, E. (1984). Phonology and Syntax: The Relation between Sound and Structure. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Selkirk%2C+E%2E+%281984%29%2E+Phonology+and+Syntax%3A+The+Relation+between+Sound+and+Structure%2E+Cambridge%2C+MA%3A+The+MIT+Press%2E)
7. Wickes, W. (1881). Two Treatises on the Accentuation of the Old Testament. Rev. Reprint by KTAV, New York, 1970. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Wickes%2C+W%2E+%281881%29%2E+Two+Treatises+on+the+Accentuation+of+the+Old+Testament%2E+Rev%2E+Reprint+by+KTAV%2C+New+York%2C+1970%2E)