PETRARCH Dictionary Formats

There are five separate input dictionaries or lists that PETRACH makes use of: the verb dictionary, the actor dictionary, the agent dictionary, the discard list, and the issues list. The following sections describe these files in greater detail. In addition to this documentation, which is intended for individuals planning to work on dictionaries, the source code contains internal documentation on how the dictionary information is stored by the program.

The PETRARCH dictionaries are generally derived from the earlier TABARI dictionaries, and information on those formats can be found in the TABARI manual:

http://eventdata.parusanalytics.com/tabari.dir/TABARI.0.8.4b2.manual.pdf <http://eventdata.parusanalytics.com/tabari.dir/TABARI.0.8.4b2.manual.pdf>_

General Rules for dictionaries

All of the files are in "flat ASCII" format and should only be edited using a program that produces a a file without embedded control codes; for example Emacs or BBEdit.

Comments in input files:

Comments should be delineated in either Python or XML style (which is inherited from HTML which inherited it from SGML) are allowed, as long as you don't get too clever. Basically, anything that looks like any of these is treated like a comment and skipped.

<!-- [comment] -->

things I want to actually read <!-- [comment] -->

some things I want <!-- [comment] --> and more of them

<!-- start of the comment
\[1 or more additional lines\]
end of the comment -->

# this is a Python-like comment, inherited from Unix

something I want # followed by a Python-like comment

For the HTML-like comments, the system doesn't use the formal definition that also says '--' is not allowed inside a comment: it just looks for --> as a terminator

The program is not set up to handle clever variations like nested comments, multiple comments on a line, or non-comment information in multi-line comments: yes, we are perfectly capable of writing code that could handle these contingencies, but it is not a priority at the moment. We trust you can cope within these limits.

Blank lines and lines with only whitespace are also skipped.

For legacy purposes, anything following ';' is treated as a comment: this is the old KEDS/TABARI formatting rule and TABARI actor dictionaries still more or less work.

Verb Dictionary

The verb dictionary consists of a set of synsets followed by a series of verb synonyms and patterns.

Verb Synonym Blocks and Patterns:

A verb synonym block is a set of verbs which are synonymous (or close enough) with respect to the patterns. The program automatically generates the regular forms of the verb if it is regular (and, implicitly, English); otherwise the irregular forms can be specified in {...} following the primary verb. An optional code for the isolated verb can follow in [...].

The verb block begins with a comment of the form

--- [] ---


where the "---" signals the beginning of a new block. The code in [...] is the
primary code -- typically a two-digit+0 cue-category code -- for the block, and this
will be used for all other verbs unless these have their own code. If no code is
present, this defaults to the null code "---"  which indicates that the isolated verb
does not generate an event. The null code also can be used as a secondary code.
This is followed by a set of patterns -- these begin with '-' -- which generally
follow the same syntax as TABARI patterns (see Chapter 5 of the TABARI manual). The pattern set is terminated with a  blank line.
Multiple-word verbs
Multiple-word "verbs" such as CONDON OFF, WIRE TAP and BEEF UP are entered by
connecting the word with an underscore (these must be consecutive) and putting a '+'
in front of the verb. Alternative forms must be specified: they are not constructed
automatically. These are treated in patterns just as single-word verbs are treated.
Example:
::
+BEEF_UP {+BEEFS_UP +BEEFED_UP +BEEFING_UP}
+CORDON_OFF {+CORDONED_OFF +CORDONS_OFF +CORDONING_OFF} 
WIRE_+TAP {WIRE_+TAPPED  WIRE_+TAPPING }

Synsets:
Synonym sets (synsets) are labelled with a string beginning with & and defined using
the label followed by a series of lines beginning with + containing words or phrases.
The phrases are interpreted as requiring consecutive words; the words can be separated
with either spaces or underscores (they are converted to spaces). Synset phrases can
only contain words, not $, +, % or ^ tokens or synsets. At present, a synsets cannot

contain another synset as an element. [see note below] Synsets be used anywhere in a

pattern that a word or phrase can be used. A synset must be defined before it is used:

a pattern containing an undefined synset will be ignored -- but those definitions can
occur anywhere in the file.
Regular plurals are generated automatically  by adding 'S' to the root, adding 'IES' if the root ends in 'Y', and added 'ES' if the root ends in 'SS'.  Plurals are not created when [1]_
.. [1] The method for handling irregular plurals is currently different for the verbs and agents dictionaries: these will be reconciled in the future, probably using the agents syntax.


The phrase ends with _.


The label ends with _, in which case plurals are not generated for any of
the phrases; this is typically used for synonym sets that do not involve nouns


The _ is dropped in both cases. Irregular plurals do not have a special syntax;
just enter these as additional synonyms.
Example:
::
&CURRENCY 
+DOLLARS
+EUROS
+AUSTRIAN FLORIN
+GOLDEN_GOBLIN_GALLEONS_
+PESO
+KRONER_
+YUM YENNYEN 
+JAVANESE YEN
+SWISS FRANCS
+YEN

&ALTCURR
+BITCOIN
+PIRATE GOLD_   
+LEPRECHAUN GOLD_

&AUXVERB3_
+HAVE
+HAS
+HAD


### GRANT ### 
GRANT [070]
GIVE {GAVE GIVEN }  # jw  11/14/91
CONTRIBUTE # tony  3/12/91
- ** &CURRENCY [903] # -PAS 12.01.12
- ** &ALTCURR [904] # -PAS 14.05.08
- ** RUPEES  [071]


### EXPLAIN_VERBAL ### 
EXPLAIN [010]
COMMENT 
ASSERT 
SAY  {SAID }
CLARIFY {CLARIFIES CLARIFIED } [040]
CLEAR_UP 
- ** RESTORATION RELATIONS [050:050]  # ANNOUNCE <ab 02 Dec 2005> 
- ** COMMIT &MILITARY TO + [0332]  # SAY <sls 13 Mar 2008> 
- ** ATTACK ON + AS &CRIME [018]  # DESCRIBE <ab 31 Dec 2005> 
- ** &CURRENCY DEBT_RELIEF [0331]  # ANNOUNCE <ab 02 Dec 2005>  , ANNOUNCE
- ** WELCOMED OFFER FROM + [050]  # ANNOUNCE <ab 02 Dec 2005> 
- ** + THAT $ WILL PULLOUT [0356]  # INFORM <sms 30 Nov 2007> 
- ** POSSIBILITY OF &FIGHT [138]  # MENTION <OY 11 Mar 2006> 
- ** AGREED JOIN COALITION [031]  # ANNOUNCE <OY 15 Mar 2006> 
- ** TRACES RESPONSIBILITY [112]  # REPORT
- CONFIRMED ** OF BOMBINGS [010]  # REPORT
- ** INITIATIVE END &FIGHT [036]  # ANNOUNCE <ab 02 Dec 2005> 

&TESTSYN3
    +TO THE END
+TO THE DEATH
+UNTIL HELL FREEZES OVER

&TESTSYN4
+TO THE END OF THE EARTH
+TO THE DEATH

VOW  [170] ;tony  3/9/91
- ** RESIST &TESTSYN3 [113] ; pas 4/20/03
- ** RESIST &TESTSYN4  [115] ; pas 4/20/03
- ** RESISTANCE TO THE INVADING  [114] ; pas 4/20/03
- ** RESIST  [112] ;tony  4/29/91
- ** WAR  [173] ;tony  4/22/91

Verb Dictionary Differences from TABARI:
On the very remote chance -- see Note 1 -- that you are trying to modify a TABARI

.verbs dictionary to the PETRARCH format, the main thing you will need to eliminate
any stemmed words:  PETRARCH only works with complete words. On the positive side,
PETRARCH will only look at string as a "verb" if it has been identified as such by
the parser, so the patterns required for noun/verb disambiguation are no longer
needed. PATRARCH also does not allow disconjunctive sets in patterns: to accommodate
legacy dictionaries, patterns containing these are skipped, but in order to work,
these should be replaced with synsets. Also see additional remarks at the beginning
of the file.
The other big difference between PETRARCH and TABARI is verb-noun disambiguation:
the pattern-based approach of TABARI needed a lot of information to insure that a
word that might be a verb was, in fact, a verb (or was a noun that occurred in a
context where it indicated an event anyway: TABARI's [in]famous tendency to code the
right thing for the wrong reason. PETRARCH, in contrast, only looks as a verb when
the parsing has identified it as, in fact, a verb. This dramatically reduces false
positives and eliminates the need for any pattern which was required simply for
disambiguation, but it also means that PETRARCH is a lot more discriminating about
what actually constitutes an event. The big difference here is that verb-only
codes are the norm in PETRARCH dictionaries but the exception in TABARI dictionaries.
The active PETRARCH verbs dictionary has been extensively reorganized into both
verb and noun synonym sets, and you are probably better off adding vocabulary to
this [see Note 1] than converting a dictionary, but it can be done. An unconverted
TABARI dictionary, on the other hand, will generally not work at all well with
PETRARCH.
Note 1.
Yeah, right. Every project we've encountered -- including those funded by multiple
millions of dollars and those allegedly producing multiple millions of events -- has
regarded the NSF-funded CAMEO verbs dictionaries as a sacred artifact of the Data
Fairy, lowered from Asgaard along the lines of this
http://www.wikiart.org/en/jacob-jordaens/allegory-of-the-peace-of-westphalia-1654 <http://www.wikiart.org/en/jacob-jordaens/allegory-of-the-peace-of-westphalia-1654>_
[not exactly sure where the .verbs file is in that painting, but I'm sure it is in

there somewhere]
but then subsequently subject said dictionaries to bitter complaints that they aren't
coding properly.
Look, dudes and dudettes, these dictionaries have been open source for about as long
as the US has been at war in Afghanistan -- which is to say, a really long time -- and
if you don't like how the coding is being done, add some new open-source vocabulary
to the dictionaries instead of merely parasitizing the existing work. Dude.
The real problem, one suspects, is embodied in the following nugget of wisdom:
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks 
like work.

    -Thomas A. Edison

Dude.
Actor Dictionary

Actor dictionaries are similar to those used in TABARI (see Chapter 5 of the manual) except that the date restrictions must be on separate lines (in TABARI, this was
optional) The general structure of the actors dictionary is a series of records of the form
::
[primary phrase]
[optional synonym phrases beginning with '+']
[optional date restrictions beginning with '\t']

A "phrase string" is a set of character strings separated by either blanks or
underscores.
A "code" is a character string without blanks
A "date" has the form YYYYMMDD or YYMMDD. These can be mixed, e.g.
::
JAMES_BYRNES_  ; CountryInfo.txt
    [USAELI 18970101-450703]
    [USAGOV 450703-470121]

Primary phrase format:
phrase_string  { optional [code] }
If the code is present, it becomes the default code if none of the date restrictions
are satisfied. If it is not present and none of the restrictions are satisfied,
this is equivalent to a null code
Synonym phrase
+phrase_string
Date restriction
\t[code restriction]
where \t is the tab character and the restriction [1]_ takes the form
::
<date : applies to times before date
>date : applies to times after date
date-date: applies to times between dates

The limits of the date restrictions are interpreted as "or equal to." A date restriction of the form \t[code] is the same as a default restriction.
Example:
::
# .actor file produced by translate.countryinfo.pl from CountryInfo.120106.txt
# Generated at: Tue Jan 10 14:09:48 2012
# Version: CountryInfo.120106.txt

AFGHANISTAN_  [AFG]
+AFGHAN_
+AFGANISTAN_
+AFGHANESTAN_
+AFGHANYSTAN_
+KABUL_
+HERAT_

MOHAMMAD_ZAHIR_SHAH_  ; CountryInfo.txt
	[AFGELI 320101-331108]
	[AFGGOV 331108-730717]
	[AFGELI 730717-070723]

ABDUL_QADIR_  ; CountryInfo.txt
+NUR_MOHAMMAD_TARAKI_  ; CountryInfo.txt
+HAFIZULLAH_AMIN_  ; CountryInfo.txt
	[AFGELI 620101-780427]
	[AFGGOV 780427-780430]
	[AFGELI]

HAMID_KARZAI_  [AFGMIL]; CountryInfo.txt
+BABRAK_KARMAL_  ; CountryInfo.txt
+SIBGHATULLAH_MOJADEDI_  ; CountryInfo.txt
	[AFGGOV 791227-861124]
	[AFGGOV 791227-810611]

Detecting actors which are not in the dictionary
Because PETRARCH uses parsed input, it has the option of detecting actors---noun phrases---which are not in the dictionary. This is set using the new_actor_length option in the PETR_config.ini file: see the description of that file for details.
Agent Dictionary

Basic structure of the agents dictionary is a series of records of the form
::
    phrase_string {optional plural}  [agent_code]

A "phrase string" is a set of character strings separated by either blanks or
underscores. As with the verb patterns, a blank between words means that additional words can occur between the previous word and the next word; a _ (underscore) means that the words must be consecutive.
An "agent_code" is a character string without blanks that is either preceded (typically)
or followed by ~. If the ~ precedes the code, the code is added after the actor
code; if it follows the code, the code is added before the actor code (usually done
for organizations, e.g. NGO~)
Plurals:
Regular plurals -- those formed by adding 'S' to the root, adding 'IES' if the
root ends in 'Y', and added 'ES' if the root ends in 'SS' -- are generated automatically
If the plural has some other form, it follows the root inside {...}  [1]_
If a plural should not be formed -- that is, the root is only singular or only
plural, or the singular and plural have the same form (e.g. "police"), use a null
string inside {}.
If there is more than one form of the plural -- "attorneys general" and "attorneys
generals" are both in use -- just make a second entry with one of the plural forms
nulled (though in this instance -- ain't living English wonderful? -- you could null
the singular and use an automatic plural on the plural form) Though in a couple
test sentences, this phrase confused the CoreNLP parser.
Substitution Markers:
These are used to handle complex equivalents, notably
::
    !PERSON! = MAN, MEN, WOMAN, WOMEN, PERSON
    !MINST! = MINISTER, MINISTERS, MINISTRY, MINISTRIES

and used in the form
::
    CONGRESS!PERSON! [~LEG}
    !MINIST!_OF_INTERNAL_AFFAIRS

The marker for the substitution set is of the form !...! and is followed by an =
and a comma-delimited list; spaces are stripped from the elements of the list so
these can be added for clarity. Every item in the list is substituted for the marker,
with no additional plural formation, so the first construction would generate
::
    CONGRESSMAN [~LEG}
    CONGRESSMEN [~LEG}
    CONGRESSWOMAN [~LEG}
    CONGRESSWOMEN [~LEG}
    CONGRESSPERSON [~LEG}

Example:
::
<!-- PETRARCH VALIDATION SUITE AGENTS DICTIONARY -->
<!-- VERSION: 0.1 -->
<!-- Last Update: 27 November 2013 -->

PARLIAMENTARY_OPPOSITION {} [~OPP] #jap 11 Oct 2002
AMBASSADOR [~GOV] # LRP 02 Jun 2004
COPTIC_CHRISTIAN [~CHRCPT] # BNL 10 Jan 2002
FOREIGN_MINISTER [~GOVFRM] # jap 4/14/01
PRESIDENT [~GOVPRS] # ns 6/26/01
AIR_FORCE {} [~MIL] # ab 06 Jul 2005
OFFICIAL_MEDIA {} [~GOVMED] # ab 16 Aug 2005
ATTORNEY_GENERAL {ATTORNEYS_GENERAL} [~GOVATG] # mj 05 Jan 2006
FOREIGN_MINISTRY [~GOV] # mj 17 Apr 2006
HUMAN_RIGHTS_ACTIVISTS  [NGM~] # ns 6/14/01
HUMAN_RIGHTS_BODY  [NGO~] # BNL 07 Dec 2001
TROOP {} [~MIL] # ab 22 Aug 2005

Discard List

The discard list is used to identify sentences that should not be coded, for example sports events and historical chronologies.[2]_ If the string, prefixed with ' ', is found in the <Text>...</Text> sentence, the
sentence is not coded. Prefixing the string with a '+' means the entire story is not
coded with the string is found. If the string ends with '_', the matched string must also end with
a blank or punctuation mark; otherwise it is treated as a stem. The matching is not
case sensitive.
.. [2] In TABARI, discards were intermixed in the .actors dictionary and .verbs patterns, using the [###] code. They are now a separate dictionary.
Example:
::
+5K RUN #  ELH 06 Oct 2009
+ACADEMY AWARD   # LRP 08 Mar 2004
AFL GRAND FINAL   # MleH 06 Aug 2009
AFRICAN NATIONS CUP   # ab 13 Jun 2005
AMATEUR BOXING TOURNAMENT   # CTA 30 Jul 2009
AMELIA EARHART
ANDRE AGASSI   # LRP 10 Mar 2004
ASIAN CUP   # BNL 01 May 2003
ASIAN FOOTBALL   # ATS 9/27/01
ASIAN MASTERS CUP   # CTA 28 Jul 2009
+ASIAN WINTER GAMES   # sls 14 Mar 2008
ATP HARDCOURT TOURNAMENT   # mj 26 Apr 2006
ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR   # MleH 10 Aug 2009
AUSTRALIAN OPEN
AVATAR   # CTA 14 Jul 2009
AZEROTH   # CTA 14 Jul 2009  (World of Warcraft)
BADMINTON  # MleH 28 Jul 2009
BALLCLUB   # MleH 10 Aug 2009
BASEBALL
BASKETBALL
BATSMAN  # MleH 14 Jul 2009
BATSMEN  # MleH 12 Jul 2009

Issues List

The optional Issues dictionary is used to do simple string matching and return a comma-delimited list of codes. The standard format is simply a set of lines of the form
    ``<string> [<code>]``

For purposes of matching, a ' ' is added to the beginning and end of the string: at
present there are no wild cards, though that is easily added.
The following expansions can be used (these apply to the string that follows up to
the next blank):
::
    n: Create the singular and plural of the noun
    v: Create the regular verb forms ('S','ED','ING')
    +: Create versions with ' ' and '-'

The file format allows # to be used as a in-line comment delimiter.
Issues are written to the event record as a comma-delimited list to a tab-delimited
field, e.g.
::
20080801	ABC	EDF	0001	POSTSECONDARY_EDUCATION 2, LITERACY 1	AFP0808-01-M008-02
20080801	ABC	EDF	0004        AFP0808-01-M007-01
20080801	ABC	EDF	0001	NUCLEAR_WEAPONS 1	AFP0808-01-M008-01

where XXXX NN, corresponds to the issue code and the number of matched phrases in the
sentence that generated the event.
This feature is optional and triggered by a file name in the
PETR_config.ini file at issuefile_name = Phoenix.issues.140225.txt.
In the current code, the occurrence of an ignore phrase of either type cancels all
coding of issues from the sentence.
Example:
::
<ISSUE CATEGORY="ID_ATROCITY">
n:atrocity [ID_ATROCITY]
n:genocide [ID_ATROCITY]
ethnic cleansing [ID_ATROCITY]
ethnic v:purge [ID_ATROCITY]
ethnic n:purge [ID_ATROCITY]
war n:crime [ID_ATROCITY]
n:crime against humanity [ID_ATROCITY]
n:massacre [ID_ATROCITY]
v:massacre [ID_ATROCITY]
al+zarqawi network [NAMED_TERROR_GROUP]
~Saturday Night massacre
~St. Valentine's Day massacre
~~Armenian genocide  # not coding historical cases
</ISSUE>

jillirvine/Dictionaries

PETRARCH Dictionary Formats

General Rules for dictionaries

Verb Dictionary

Actor Dictionary

Agent Dictionary

Discard List

Issues List