Analyzing Parser Errors

To Improve Parsing Accuracy And To Inform Treebanking Decisions

Abstract

We present a detailed error analysis of a transition-based dependency parser trained on a Hindi dependency treebank. Parser error analysis has not been systematically examined from the point of view of treebanking before and this work intends to contribute in this area.

We address two main questions in this paper:

1. Can the parsing of certain structures be made easier by using alternative analyses for these structures?
2. Are there certain linguistic cues implicit (or missing) in the current treebank that can be made explicit (or added) in order to make the parsing of complex constructions easier?

These questions will guide us in examining the potential benefits of parser error analysis during treebanking. Through our experiments and analysis we were able to shed light on the causes of errors and subsequently have been able to improve the performance of the parser.