Claimset extension: linguistics — v0.1 (draft)

Status: working draft · Date: 2026-11-06 · Core: claimset v0.38 and later · Name in files: linguistics

Linguistic examples are observations whose value is an excerpt (claimset §3.4): words of a language, as the source gives them, with a language tag and an English translation in the core. This extension adds what linguistics needs besides: the interlinear gloss, the example's segmentation into morphemes, and the acceptability judgement the paper gives it.

1. Where

A linguistics block appears only on a result entry whose value is an excerpt ("ext": {"linguistics": {…}} on the result). Tables do not carry it: a table of examples is recorded as result entries, one per example.

2. Fields

Field	Obligation	Type	Notes
`gloss`	required	string	The interlinear gloss, word by word and morpheme by morpheme, after the Leipzig Glossing Rules: one gloss word per word of the example, separated by spaces; within a word, morphemes separated by hyphens as in the segmentation; grammatical categories in capitals (`1SG`, `PST`, `ACC`)
`segmented`	recommended	string	The example split into morphemes with hyphens, word by word, as the gloss aligns with it (line 1 of an interlinear example): `ni-ta-ku-penda`. The excerpt's `text` keeps the words as the source gives them
`judgement`	optional	enum	The acceptability the paper gives the example, as the conventional mark: `*` ungrammatical · `?` marginal · `??` strongly marginal · `#` pragmatically or semantically anomalous · `%` acceptable to some speakers only. Absent: the example is given as acceptable

{"id": "R4", "variable": "D3", "conditions": {"D1": "D7"},
 "value": {"text": "nitakupenda", "locator": "fieldnotes 2019, p. 14", "language": "sw",
           "translation": "I will love you"},
 "ext": {"linguistics": {"segmented": "ni-ta-ku-penda", "gloss": "1SG-FUT-2SG.OBJ-love"}}}

The variety the example belongs to is a definition of the paper (a population or setting naming the language or dialect), with its Glottolog code in identifiers (glottolog:swah1253), and named in the result's conditions.

3. Rules

linguistics.1. A linguistics block is on a result entry whose value is an excerpt. linguistics.2. The block has only gloss, segmented and judgement; gloss is a non-empty string; segmented, if present, is a non-empty string. linguistics.3. When segmented is given, it has as many words (separated by spaces) as gloss, and each word of it as many morphemes (separated by hyphens) as the word of gloss it aligns with (Leipzig rules 1 and 2). linguistics.4. judgement, if present, is one of *, ?, ??, #, %.

4. Warnings

linguistics.w1. No segmented, and the excerpt's text and the gloss have different numbers of words: give the segmentation the gloss aligns with.