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# Universal Stanford dependencies: A cross-linguistic typology

**Authors:** [Marie-Catherine de Marneffe](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/authors/marie-catherine-de-marneffe/), [Timothy Dozat](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/authors/timothy-dozat/), [Natalia Silveira](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/authors/natalia-silveira/) et al. · **Year:** 2014 · **Venue:** Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC'14) **Link:** [aclanthology.org/L14-1045](https://aclanthology.org/L14-1045/) · **Licence:** [CC BY-NC 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) (ELRA, LREC 2014 proceedings) — summary only

[**456** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W1962622193) openalex-snapshot · 2026-10-14[**170** citations in our library](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/cited-by/ud-2014-marneffe-universal-stanford-dependencies-cross-linguistic/) of the 140673 papers whose bibliographies we read[Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC'14)](https://aclanthology.org/volumes/L14-1/)[licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)

- [Publisher's page](https://aclanthology.org/L14-1045/)
- [PDF](https://aclanthology.org/L14-1045.pdf)
- [DOI 10.63317/4ok3zdjx8t96](https://doi.org/10.63317/4ok3zdjx8t96)
- [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W1962622193)

**Authors (7)**

1. [Marie-Catherine de Marneffe](https://openalex.org/A5112862689) [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/2241127) · h 31 · 8612 citations · 82 works
2. [Timothy Dozat](https://openalex.org/A5046428118) [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/2277385) · h 13 · 4085 citations · 33 works
3. [Natalia Silveira](https://openalex.org/A5113023938) [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/145851426) · h 7 · 1857 citations · 12 works
4. [Katri Haverinen](https://openalex.org/A5074363960) [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/1837036) · h 8 · 677 citations · 17 works
5. [Filip Ginter](https://openalex.org/A5019929457) [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5484-6103) · [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/1694491) · h 36 · 7535 citations · 202 works
6. [Joakim Nivre](https://openalex.org/A5077063699) [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/1720988) · h 60 · 16139 citations · 333 works
7. [Christopher D. Manning](https://openalex.org/A5046006076) [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6155-649X) · [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/144783904) · h 139 · 180101 citations · 770 works

Citations and author metrics from openalex-snapshot (2026-10-14); authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

The paper reconstructs the typology behind Stanford Dependencies and proposes a two-layer taxonomy: 42 universal grammatical relations that are broadly attested across languages, with language-specific subtypes added under them. It keeps a lexicalist stance, so case markers become dependents of the noun they mark, and compounds, multiword expressions and morphology get their own treatment. The authors map existing schemes for Finnish, Italian, Chinese and Persian onto the new taxonomy. They argue for a transform-detransform architecture: parse into a form that suits the parser, then convert back to the rich scheme. It is a taxonomy and mapping study and reports no parser score.

## Ideas

- I1. `en/src/udreg.rs` and `en/src/convert.rs`: check that every language-specific label in the `mova` dialect (npmod, tmod, poss, predet, preconj, prt) names a registered universal parent; measure the registry gate count on the converted EWT train and on GUM (test only).
- I2. `en/src/explain.rs`: print the rule that fires for each `compound`, `mwe` and `goeswith` decision, so the lexicalist choices are visible; measure the share of such decisions that carry an explanation on EWT train (target 100%).
- I3. `en/src/convert.rs` plus `en parse-eval`: train on a parser-friendly transformed form, detransform, and compare LAS on EWT test against direct training; two runs each, since the paper argues parser accuracy can favour the transformed form.

## For Mova

Touches [19. The lexicon: vocabulary, multiword expressions and register](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/19-lexicon-mwe-register/), `20-syntax-overview.md` and `22-phrases.md` (case, nmod, compounds). Crates and files: `en/src/udreg.rs`, `en/src/convert.rs`, `en/src/explain.rs`, and the `annot` gates. Measure first the registry coverage of the converters (zero unregistered labels), then the round-trip LAS on EWT test.

## Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.63317/4ok3zdjx8t96](https://doi.org/10.63317/4ok3zdjx8t96)

```
@inproceedings{marneffe2014universal,
  title = {{Universal Stanford dependencies: A cross-linguistic typology}},
  author = {Marneffe, Marie-Catherine de and Dozat, Timothy and Silveira, Natalia and Haverinen, Katri and Ginter, Filip and Nivre, Joakim and Manning, Christopher D.},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC'14)},
  year = {2014},
  doi = {10.63317/4ok3zdjx8t96},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.63317/4ok3zdjx8t96}
}
```

- [← previous Integrating Neural and Symbolic Components in a Model of Pragmatic Question-Answering](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/tsvilodub-2025-integrating-neural-symbolic-components-model/)
- [next → Converting an English-Swedish Parallel Treebank to Universal Dependencies](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/ud-2015-ahrenberg-converting-english-swedish-parallel-treebank/)
- [↑ back to English](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/en/)

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