ACE configuration file
This page documents various options in ACE’s grammar-specific configuration file.
The ACE configuration file uses a TDL-like syntax; comments start with semicolons, and each other line looks like:
parameter := value.
The format of the value field varies depending on the parameter.
Values that are filesystem paths are always in double quotes and are relative to the configuration file’s location.
Paths to other files:
| version | path to a text file containing the grammar version within double quotes |
| grammar-top | path to a TDL file that includes the rest of the grammar |
| preprocessor | path to a .rpp file defining the REPP |
| preprocessor-modules | list of unquoted paths to REPP modules to enable |
| maxent-model | path to a .mem file for ranking |
| variable-property-mapping | path to the VPM definition for parsing/generating |
| input-vpm | path to the input VPM definition, when ‘transfer’ is set to ‘enabled’ |
| output-vpm | path to the output VPM definition, when ‘transfer’ is set to ‘enabled’ |
| parse-node-labels | path to a TDL file defining parse node labels (unused) |
| generation-ignore-signs | path to a file listing rule and lexeme names to disable for generation |
| generation-ignore-lexemes | path to a file listing more lexeme names to disable for generation |
| generation-ignore-rules | path to a file listing more rule names to disable for generation |
| generation-trigger-rules | path to an MTR file defining trigger rules for generation |
| generation-fixup-rules | path to an MTR file defining transfer rules to massage MRSes before generation |
| cleanup-rules | path to an MTR file defining transfer rules to massage MRSes read off of TFSes |
| idiom-rules | path to an MTR file defining idiom-checking rules for parsing |
| quickcheck-code | path to a text file defining the quickcheck skeleton |
| quickcheck-instance | name of an instance containing a PET-style quickcheck skeleton (not a string) |
| semantic-interface | path to a .smi file defining the SEMI |
| irregular-forms | list of unquoted paths to irregular form tables |
Types
| top-type | name of the type at the root of the type hierarchy |
| semarg-type | grammar-internal supertype of MRS variables |
| handle-type | SEMI type for MRS handles and holes |
| skolem-feature | feature name where skolem constants are put (defaults to INSTLOC) |
| list-type | type for lists |
| cons-type | type for non-empty lists |
| null-type | type for empty lists |
| diff-list-type | type for diff-lists |
| semantic-interface-top-type | the name of the type at the top of the SEMI type hierarchy |
Paths within AVMs
| orth-path | path to orthography list within a sign |
| lex-rels-path | path to list of EPs supplied by a lexeme |
| lex-carg-path | path to CARG of a lexeme’s key relation (old, unused) |
| lex-pred-path | path to PRED of a lexeme’s key relation (old, unused) |
| rule-rels-path | path to list of EPs supplied by a rule |
| semantics-path | path to the MRS structure of a sign |
| hook-path | path to the structure containing LTOP and INDEX inside an MRS TFS |
| label-path | path to the label string on a parse-node instance; default is “LNAME” |
| mrs-rels-list | path to the RELS list within an MRS structure; default is “RELS LIST” |
| mrs-hcons-list | path to the HCONS list within an MRS structure; default is “HCONS LIST” |
| mrs-icons-list | path to the ICONS list within an MRS structure (if enabled); default is “ICONS LIST” |
| icons-left | feature for the left side of an ICONS element; default is “IC-LEFT” |
| icons-right | feature for the right side of an ICONS element; default is “IC-RIGHT” |
| chart-dependencies | a (flat) list of pairs of quoted paths used for removing unwanted lexemes from the chart before parsing. a lexeme with a non-*top* value for the first path in a pair will only survive if there is another lexeme with a compatible value at the second path in the pair. |
Token Mapping
| token-mapping | enabled (normal) or disabled (legacy; not well supported) |
| token-type | type of a token feature structure |
| lexicon-tokens-path | path to the list of tokens that license a lexeme |
| lexicon-tokens-last-path | path to the LAST pointer for the diff-list-like token list |
| token-form-path | path within a token to the surface form string |
| token-from-path | path within a token to the CFROM (character start position) field |
| token-to-path | path within a token to the CTO (character end position) field |
| token-id-path | path within a token to the ID |
| token-postags-path | path within a token to the POS tag list |
| token-posprobs-path | path within a token to the POS tag probability list |
| lattice-mapping-input-path | path within a lattice mapping rule to the input list |
| lattice-mapping-output-path | path within a lattice mapping rule to the output list |
| lattice-mapping-context-path | path within a lattice mapping rule to the context list |
| lattice-mapping-position-path | path within a lattice mapping rule to the positional constraints |
Miscellaneous Switches
| index-accessibility-filtering | enabled or disabled. this significantly reduces generation time, but if important references to MRS variables are on the packing restrictor then it can cause generation to fail. |
| generalize-edge-top-types | enabled or disabled. sets the top-level type of all passive edges to sign, which results in significantly increased packing with some grammars. may or may not be a net win, considering additional failures in unpacking. |
| english-pos-tagger | enabled or disbled. runs the input through a built-in trigram HMM tagger (but you need to supply the training data) and records the results in the token structures. |
| simplify-lexicon | enabled or disabled. ERG-specific; attempts to represent the lexicon more compactly. |
| extra-erg-dag-stash | enabled or disabled. ERG-specific; keeps extra copies of some common GLB types DAGs on hand. |
| process-chart-dependencies-before-lexical-parsing | enabled or disabled. when enabled, chart reduction happens before lexical parsing (default is after lexical parsing). |
| enable-icons | enabled or disabled. Controls support for ICONS in MRSes. |
General Configuration
| transfer | enabled or disabled. defaults to disabled. when enabled, ACE processes transfer grammars instead of syntactic grammars. adjustment of several MRS configuration parameters may be necessary. |
| spanning-only-rules | list of rules to only allow in the spanning chart cell |
| fragment-only-rules | list of rules to only allow when fragment parsing is enabled |
| hyper-active-rules | list of rules for which hyperactive parsing should be used |
| deleted-daughters | list of features to delete on new passive edges |
| parsing-packing-restrictor | list of features to suppress until unpacking while parsing |
| generation-packing-restrictor | list of features to suppress until unpacking while generating |
| mrs-deleted-roles | list of features on internal MRS variable AVMs that should not be exported when presenting final MRSes (superceded by VPM?) |
| parsing-roots | list of root instances enabled for parsing |
| generation-roots | list of root instances enabled for generation |
| non-idiom-root | the name of an instance to check against all parsing results to see whether further idiom processing is required |
| generic-les-for-semantic-index | list of the names of the generic lexemes that can be used to provide an unknown relation in generation |
| ortho-max-rules | maximum length of a chain of orthographemic rules to allow in parsing |
| ortho-warn-on-max-rules | whether to print a warning when the limit of orthographemic rules is reached |
| freezer-megabytes | defaults to 256; make it bigger if you get a warning about it. |
| irregular-form-rule-suffix | a string to append to the rule names found in irregular form tables. |
| invent-ltop | enabled or disabled. if disabled, the MRS LTOP will be extracted from the grammar. otherwise, it will be invented as a new hole connected to the grammar-provided LTOP by a QEQ. |
Last update: 2023-01-11 by Francis Bond [edit]