Finite state analysis of prepositional phrases in Maltese

Abstract

We address the general problem faced by designers of computational lexica: that of relating surface forms to underlying lexical forms through the vehicle of a precise linguistic description expressed in a suitable formalism. For such a description to be useful, it must be possible for the relation to be computable: given a surface element, we need to compute the corresponding lexical element or elements, and vice cersa. Below we concentrate upon the description of a minimal example: prepositional phrases, a reasonably well-defined and compact subset of Maltese surface phenomena that exemplifies many of the difficulties that are typical of Semitic languages.