Linguistic Macros

Emma Pease

June 1, 1999

The lingmacros file contains a few macros that may be of use to linguists. The major commands are

1. The enumsentence macros for creating example sentences

\enumsentence[label]{sentence}
\eenumsentence[label]{\item[label] sentence 1
                      \item[label] sentence 2}

The enumsentence macros are similar to the math equation environment except that they take regular text. The \label command can be used inside of them.^{1} Inside of the eenumsentence either the \toplabel command for the sentence number only or the \label for sentence number and sublabel. Also defined is \ex{number} which gives a relative reference. (\ex{1}) or (\ref{senta}) give the number of the next enumsentence (1) or (1); (\ex{2}) or (\ref{sentb}) of the second succeeding enumsentence (2) or (2). (\ref{sentbb}) will give (2b).

(1) This is the first sentence

(2) a. this is a second sentence

b. this is a third sentence

\enumsentence{This is the first sentence\label{senta}}
\eenumsentence{\item this is a second sentence \toplabel{sentb}
               \item this is a third sentence\label{sentbb}}

2. The tree macros

\smalltree{alignment structure}
\modsmalltree{number of columns}{alignment structure}

1The enumsentence macros use the counter, enums. For more information read the style file.

\smalltree is based on the tabular environment with a large baselineskip. A simple example should suffice.

(3) a b  c d  e  f

\enumsentence{\smalltree{& &a\\
                         &b& &c\\
                        d& &e& &f}}

\modsmalltree sometime works better.

(4)

a

b this is long
d  e  f

\enumsentence{\modsmalltree{5}{& &a\\
                         &b& \mc{3}{this is long}\\
                        d& &e& &f}}

Note the use of the \mc{number of columns}{text} to span several columns. The \clap{text} might also be useful; it is similar to the \rlap and \llap commands and produces a centered hbox of zero width. Lines need to be drawn in by hand or one can use the tree-dvips macros.

3. The gloss macros

\shortex{number of columns}{first line}{second line}{gloss}
\shortexnt{number of columns}{first line}{second line}

These can be combined to produce most of the glosses that linguists should need.

(5)

Was ist dem Kind geschenkt worden?
What is the child given  been?

What has been given to the child?

Das Finánzamt  hat ihn geschnappt (und nicht
the finance authority has him caught  (and not
die Polizei).
the police).

It was the IRS that caught him (and not the police).

\enumsentence{\shortex{6}{Was & ist & dem & Kind & geschenkt&worden?}
                         {What& is  & the & child& given    &been?}
                         {What has been given to the child?}}
               \item \shortexnt{7}
{Das & Fin\'anzamt      & hat & ihn & geschnappt &(und & nicht}
{the &finance authority & has & him & caught     &(and &not}
\shortex{2}{die &Polizei).}
           {the &police)}
           {It was the IRS that caught him (and not the police).}}

Unfortunately, I’ve not figured out a fullproof method of breaking the glosses automatically so they have to be done by hand.

4. AVM structures

\outerfs{text}

(6) [ \begin{matrix}SUBJ & [ \begin{matrix}POSS & [PRED ‘Louise’] \\ PRED & ‘mother⟨Poss⟩ \end{matrix} ] \\ OBJ & [ \begin{matrix}PRED & ‘PRO’ \\ REFL & + \end{matrix} ] \\ PRED & ‘dress⟨SUBJ OBJ⟩’ \end{matrix} ]

\enumsentence{\evnup[-3pt]{%
\outerfs{SUBJ & \outerfs{POSS & [PRED `Louise']\\
                         PRED &`mother$\langle$Poss$\rangle$}\\[3ex]
         OBJ  & \outerfs{PRED & `PRO'\\
                        REFL & +}\\
         PRED & `dress$\langle$SUBJ OBJ$\rangle$'}}}