Finite-state morphological analysis of Persian

Abstract

This paper describes a two-level morphological analyzer for Persian using a system based on the Xerox finite state tools. Persian language presents certain challenges to computational analysis: There is a complex verbal conjugation paradigm which includes long-distance morphological dependencies; phonological alternations apply at morpheme boundaries; word and noun phrase boundaries are difficult to define since morphemes may be detached from their stems and distinct words can appear without an intervening space. In this work, we develop these problems and provide solutions in a finite-state morphology system.