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# Mischievous nominal constructions in Universal Dependencies

**Authors:** [Nathan Schneider](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/authors/nathan-schneider/), [Amir Zeldes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/authors/amir-zeldes/) · **Year:** 2021 · **Venue:** Proceedings of the Fifth Workshop on Universal Dependencies (UDW, SyntaxFest 2021) **Link:** [aclanthology.org/2021.udw-1.14](https://aclanthology.org/2021.udw-1.14/) (ACL Anthology 2021.udw-1.14) **License of the paper:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) (ACL Anthology) — [creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

[**4** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W3196594672) openalex · 2026-10-18[**7** citations in our library](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/cited-by/schneider-2021-mischievous-nominal-constructions-universal-dependencies/) of the 140673 papers whose bibliographies we read[Proceedings of the Fifth Workshop on Universal Dependencies (UDW, SyntaxFest 2021)](https://aclanthology.org/volumes/2021.udw-1/)[licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

- [Publisher's page](https://aclanthology.org/2021.udw-1.14/)
- [PDF](https://aclanthology.org/2021.udw-1.14.pdf)
- [arXiv 2108.12928](https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.12928)
- [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W3196594672)

**Authors (2)**

1. [Nathan Schneider](https://openalex.org/A5014008069) [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2745-0533) · h 28 · 6684 citations · 159 works
2. [Amir Zeldes](https://openalex.org/A5089212858) [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8016-6753) · h 17 · 1555 citations · 240 works

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

## Summary

The paper looks at noun phrases that do not fit the usual UD picture: descriptors before names (titles such as Mr., role labels like "French actor"), company names with suffixes, numbered designations, dates, times and similar constructions. UD guidelines had no consistent treatment for them, so annotation diverged even within English. Using the English treebanks EWT, GUM and GUMReddit, the authors compare candidate analyses by syntactic tests: whether an element can be omitted, whether it agrees in number, whether it takes its own determiner. They argue for taking pre-name descriptors out of the headless `flat` structure and attaching them as modifiers, discussing subtypes such as `compound:title`, `appos:title`, `nmod:title` and a broader `nmod:desc`. No new universal relations are introduced, so the proposals are local and compatible with the existing scheme. The issues they describe carry over to other languages with similar name and date constructions.

## How Mova uses it

- [Titles (Mr., Dr.) and Inc. — nmod:desc](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/en/seeds/errors/titles-and-company-suffixes/): rule `en.errors.title-desc` for the English grammar expert system (`en/src/expert.rs`) — titles before names and company suffixes (Inc., Corp., Ltd.) should be `nmod:desc`; the paper supplies the analysis and frequency estimates.
- [flat — head on the left, compound — head on the right](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/en/seeds/errors/flat-compound-direction/): `flat` is head-first, `compound` head-last.
- [nummod — only quantity and only before the noun](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/en/seeds/errors/numbered-entities-nummod/): `nummod` only for quantities before a noun; numbers after a noun (page 394, Route 66) are identifiers, not `nummod`.
- [Convention differences between the English UD treebanks](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/en/seeds/errors/english-treebank-conventions/): background for treating divergences between EWT and GUM as convention differences rather than rule errors.

## Effectiveness in Mova

Not measured separately as an accuracy gain. The rules derived from it are checked against the reference treebanks: titles before PROPN in EWT 2.18 — 128 cases, 0 violations; company suffixes 48/0; GUM 84/1 and 3/0. `flat` head-first in EWT — 2501 of 2501; noun–noun `compound` head-last 8416 with 16 violations (GUM 6713/36). `nummod` before NOUN/PROPN in EWT — 1433 of 1433. Its role is to supply the linguistic analysis behind several annotation-checking rules.

---

👨‍🔬💥

Topics: [Universal Dependencies](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/topics/universal-dependencies/) · [Treebanks](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/topics/treebanks/)

## Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [arXiv 2108.12928](https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.12928)

```
@inproceedings{schneider2021mischievous,
  title = {{Mischievous nominal constructions in Universal Dependencies}},
  author = {Schneider, Nathan and Zeldes, Amir},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the Fifth Workshop on Universal Dependencies (UDW, SyntaxFest 2021)},
  year = {2021},
  eprint = {2108.12928},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.12928}
}
```

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## References

20 references, 5 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet.

1. Shabnam Behzad and Amir Zeldes. 2020. A cross-genre ensemble approach to robust Reddit part of speech tagging. In Proc. of the 12th Web as Corpus Workshop, pages 50–56, Marseille, France. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Shabnam+Behzad+and+Amir+Zeldes%2E+2020%2E+A+cross%2Dgenre+ensemble+approach+to+robust+Reddit+part+of+speech+tagging%2E+In+Proc%2E+of+the+12th+Web+as+Corpus+Workshop%2C+pages+50%E2%80%9356%2C+Marseille%2C+France%2E)
2. Mark Davies. 2010. The Corpus of Contemporary American English as the first reliable monitor corpus of English. Literary and Linguistic Computing, 25(4):447–464. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Mark+Davies%2E+2010%2E+The+Corpus+of+Contemporary+American+English+as+the+first+reliable+monitor+corpus+of+English%2E+Literary+and+Linguistic+Computing%2C+25%284%29%3A447%E2%80%93464%2E)
3. Nanna Fuhrhop. 1996. Fugenelemente. In Ewald Lang and Gisela Zifonun, editors, Deutsch - typologisch, pages 525–550. de Gruyter, Berlin. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Nanna+Fuhrhop%2E+1996%2E+Fugenelemente%2E+In+Ewald+Lang+and+Gisela+Zifonun%2C+editors%2C+Deutsch+%2D+typologisch%2C+pages+525%E2%80%93550%2E+de+Gruyter%2C+Berlin%2E)
4. Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, editors. 2002. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Rodney+Huddleston+and+Geoffrey+K%2E+Pullum%2C+editors%2E+2002%2E+The+Cambridge+Grammar+of+the+English+Language%2E+Cambridge+University+Press%2C+Cambridge%2C+UK%2E) [our card](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/huddleston-2002-cambridge-grammar-english-language/)
5. Sylvain Kahane, Marine Courtin, and Kim Gerdes. 2017. Multi-word annotation in syntactic treebanks -Propositions for Universal Dependencies. In Proc. of the 16th International Workshop on Treebanks and Linguistic Theories, pages 181–189, Prague, Czech Republic. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Sylvain+Kahane%2C+Marine+Courtin%2C+and+Kim+Gerdes%2E+2017%2E+Multi%2Dword+annotation+in+syntactic+treebanks+%2DPropositions+for+Universal+Dependencies%2E+In+Proc%2E+of+the+16th+International+Workshop+on+Treebanks+an)
6. Jessica Lin and Amir Zeldes. 2021. WikiGUM: Exhaustive entity linking for Wikification in 12 genres. In Proc. of The Joint 15th Linguistic Annotation Workshop (LAW) and 3rd Designing Meaning Representations (DMR) Workshop, pages 170–175, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Jessica+Lin+and+Amir+Zeldes%2E+2021%2E+WikiGUM%3A+Exhaustive+entity+linking+for+Wikification+in+12+genres%2E+In+Proc%2E+of+The+Joint+15th+Linguistic+Annotation+Workshop+%28LAW%29+and+3rd+Designing+Meaning+Represent)
7. Marie-Catherine de Marneffe, Christopher D. Manning, Joakim Nivre, and Daniel Zeman. 2021. Universal Dependencies. Computational Linguistics, 47(2):255–308. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Marie%2DCatherine+de+Marneffe%2C+Christopher+D%2E+Manning%2C+Joakim+Nivre%2C+and+Daniel+Zeman%2E+2021%2E+Universal+Dependencies%2E+Computational+Linguistics%2C+47%282%29%3A255%E2%80%93308%2E) [our card](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/demarneffe-2021-universal-dependencies/)
8. Joakim Nivre, Marie-Catherine de Marneffe, Filip Ginter, Jan Hajič, Christopher D. Manning, Sampo Pyysalo, Sebastian Schuster, Francis Tyers, and Daniel Zeman. 2020. Universal Dependencies v2: An evergrowing multilingual treebank collection. In Proc. of LREC, pages 4027–4036, Marseille, France. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Joakim+Nivre%2C+Marie%2DCatherine+de+Marneffe%2C+Filip+Ginter%2C+Jan+Hajic%CC%8C%2C+Christopher+D%2E+Manning%2C+Sampo+Pyysalo%2C+Sebastian+Schuster%2C+Francis+Tyers%2C+and+Daniel+Zeman%2E+2020%2E+Universal+Dependencies+v2%3A+An+eve)
9. Joakim Nivre, Marie-Catherine de Marneffe, Filip Ginter, Yoav Goldberg, Jan Hajič, Christopher D. Manning, Ryan McDonald, Slav Petrov, Sampo Pyysalo, Natalia Silveira, Reut Tsarfaty, and Daniel Zeman. 2016. Universal Dependencies v1: a multilingual treebank collection. In Proc. of LREC, pages 1659–… [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Joakim+Nivre%2C+Marie%2DCatherine+de+Marneffe%2C+Filip+Ginter%2C+Yoav+Goldberg%2C+Jan+Hajic%CC%8C%2C+Christopher+D%2E+Manning%2C+Ryan+McDonald%2C+Slav+Petrov%2C+Sampo+Pyysalo%2C+Natalia+Silveira%2C+Reut+Tsarfaty%2C+and+Daniel+Zeman) [our card](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/ud-2016-nivre-universal-dependencies-v1-multilingual-treebank/)
10. Siyao Peng and Amir Zeldes. 2018. All roads lead to UD: Converting Stanford and Penn parses to English Universal Dependencies with multilayer annotations. In Proc. of the Joint Workshop on Linguistic Annotation, Multiword Expressions and Constructions (LAW-MWE-CxG-2018), pages 167–177, Santa Fe, New… [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Siyao+Peng+and+Amir+Zeldes%2E+2018%2E+All+roads+lead+to+UD%3A+Converting+Stanford+and+Penn+parses+to+English+Universal+Dependencies+with+multilayer+annotations%2E+In+Proc%2E+of+the+Joint+Workshop+on+Linguistic+) [our card](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/peng-2018-all-roads-lead-ud-converting/)
11. Massimo Poesio, Yulia Grishina, Varada Kolhatkar, Nafise Moosavi, Ina Roesiger, Adam Roussel, Fabian Simonjetz, Alexandra Uma, Olga Uryupina, Juntao Yu, and Heike Zinsmeister. 2018. Anaphora resolution with the ARRAU corpus. In Proc. of the First Workshop on Computational Models of Reference, Anapho… [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Massimo+Poesio%2C+Yulia+Grishina%2C+Varada+Kolhatkar%2C+Nafise+Moosavi%2C+Ina+Roesiger%2C+Adam+Roussel%2C+Fabian+Simonjetz%2C+Alexandra+Uma%2C+Olga+Uryupina%2C+Juntao+Yu%2C+and+Heike+Zinsmeister%2E+2018%2E+Anaphora+resolutio)
12. Martin Popel, Zdeněk Žabokrtský, and Martin Vojtek. 2017. Udapi: Universal API for Universal Dependencies. In Proc. of the NoDaLiDa 2017 Workshop on Universal Dependencies (UDW 2017), pages 96–101, Gothenburg, Sweden. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Martin+Popel%2C+Zdene%CC%8Ck+%C5%BDabokrtsk%C3%BD%2C+and+Martin+Vojtek%2E+2017%2E+Udapi%3A+Universal+API+for+Universal+Dependencies%2E+In+Proc%2E+of+the+NoDaLiDa+2017+Workshop+on+Universal+Dependencies+%28UDW+2017%29%2C+pages+96%E2%80%93101%2C+G) [our card](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/popel-2017-udapi-universal-api-universal-dependencies/)
13. Lev Ratinov, Dan Roth, Doug Downey, and Mike Anderson. 2011. Local and global algorithms for disambiguation to Wikipedia. In Proc. of ACL-HLT, pages 1375–1384, Portland, Oregon, USA. Association for Computational Linguistics. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Lev+Ratinov%2C+Dan+Roth%2C+Doug+Downey%2C+and+Mike+Anderson%2E+2011%2E+Local+and+global+algorithms+for+disambiguation+to+Wikipedia%2E+In+Proc%2E+of+ACL%2DHLT%2C+pages+1375%E2%80%931384%2C+Portland%2C+Oregon%2C+USA%2E+Association+for+C)
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15. Nathan Schneider and Amir Zeldes. 2021. Mischievous nominal constructions in Universal Dependencies. arXiv:2108.12928 [cs]. — [arXiv:2108.12928](https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.12928) [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Nathan+Schneider+and+Amir+Zeldes%2E+2021%2E+Mischievous+nominal+constructions+in+Universal+Dependencies%2E+arXiv%3A2108%2E12928+%5Bcs%5D%2E+%E2%80%94+%5BarXiv%3A2108%2E12928%5D%28https%3A%2F%2Farxiv%2Eorg%2Fabs%2F2108%2E12928%29)
16. Natalia Silveira, Timothy Dozat, Marie-Catherine De Marneffe, Samuel R. Bowman, Miriam Connor, John Bauer, and Christopher D. Manning. 2014. A gold standard dependency corpus for English. In Proc. of LREC, pages 2897–2904, Reykjavík, Iceland. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Natalia+Silveira%2C+Timothy+Dozat%2C+Marie%2DCatherine+De+Marneffe%2C+Samuel+R%2E+Bowman%2C+Miriam+Connor%2C+John+Bauer%2C+and+Christopher+D%2E+Manning%2E+2014%2E+A+gold+standard+dependency+corpus+for+English%2E+In+Proc%2E+of+)
17. Olga Uryupina, Ron Artstein, Antonella Bristot, Federica Cavicchio, Francesca Delogu, Kepa J. Rodriguez, and Massimo Poesio. 2020. Annotating a broad range of anaphoric phenomena, in a variety of genres: the ARRAU Corpus. Natural Language Engineering, 26:95–128. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Olga+Uryupina%2C+Ron+Artstein%2C+Antonella+Bristot%2C+Federica+Cavicchio%2C+Francesca+Delogu%2C+Kepa+J%2E+Rodriguez%2C+and+Massimo+Poesio%2E+2020%2E+Annotating+a+broad+range+of+anaphoric+phenomena%2C+in+a+variety+of+genr)
18. Amir Zeldes. 2017. The GUM corpus: Creating multilayer resources in the classroom. Language Resources and Evaluation, 51(3):581–612. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Amir+Zeldes%2E+2017%2E+The+GUM+corpus%3A+Creating+multilayer+resources+in+the+classroom%2E+Language+Resources+and+Evaluation%2C+51%283%29%3A581%E2%80%93612%2E)
19. Amir Zeldes and Mitchell Abrams. 2018. The Coptic Universal Dependency Treebank. In Proc. of the Second Workshop on Universal Dependencies (UDW 2018), pages 192–201, Brussels, Belgium. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Amir+Zeldes+and+Mitchell+Abrams%2E+2018%2E+The+Coptic+Universal+Dependency+Treebank%2E+In+Proc%2E+of+the+Second+Workshop+on+Universal+Dependencies+%28UDW+2018%29%2C+pages+192%E2%80%93201%2C+Brussels%2C+Belgium%2E)
20. Daniel Zeman. 2021. Date and time in Universal Dependencies. In Proc. of the Fifth Workshop on Universal Dependencies (UDW, SyntaxFest 2021). [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Daniel+Zeman%2E+2021%2E+Date+and+time+in+Universal+Dependencies%2E+In+Proc%2E+of+the+Fifth+Workshop+on+Universal+Dependencies+%28UDW%2C+SyntaxFest+2021%29%2E)