Michael Cysouw
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Michael Cysouw
@cysouw.bsky.social
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Graphical Grammar: a history of visual analysis of syntactic structure before Chomsky and Tesnière

Radical-open-access manuscript in progress: https://cysouw.github.io/graphicalgrammar/
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Lev Ivanovich Polivanov (1838-1899), student of Buslaev and founder of the Polivanovskaya Gymnasium in Moscow, wrote many versions of a *Учебникъ русской грамматики*. In 1873 he adds a graphical analysis of complex sentences using vertical lines. #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
Graphical analysis of a complex sentence by Polivanov (1873). This graphic represents a sentence from a letter from N.M. Karamzin: [А] Улицы прямы, широки и хорошо вымощены, а [Б] вь срединѣ проведены глубокіе каналы, [а] вь которыхь сь шумомь течеть вода, [а'] уносящая сь собою всю нечистоту иаь города, и [б'] сверхь того весьма полезная ву случаѣ ножара. [А] The streets are straight, wide and well paved, and [Б] in the middle there are deep canals, [а] into which water flows noisily, [а'] carrying away with it all the sewage from the city, and [б'] moreover being very useful in case of a fire.
July 4, 2025 at 12:58 PM
cysouw.bsky.social
Jan Gebauer (1838-1907), a major figure in Czech linguistics, started out as a school teacher. He wrote a *Mluvnice česká* (1890) which includes various different graphical approaches to syntax, including hierarchical braces and line diagrams. #linguistics

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Hierarchical analysis of the internal structure of the sentence "The Earth rotates around its axis every twenty-four hours" by Gebauer (1890) Graphical display of the internal structure of a complex sentence from Gebauer (1890). The example sentence is from Daniel Adam z Veleslavína and translates approximately as "Just as we have greater love for our true parents, who begot us, than for others, who chose and adopted us as their own sons: so too the country, in which we were born and raised, is dearer to us than another, to which fortune has turned us."
July 3, 2025 at 2:45 PM
cysouw.bsky.social
Theodor Paul (not Hermann!) was a teacher's teacher. In 1910 he wrote a German grammar in which he used verb-centric graphical sentence analyses. His graphics are rather clumsily because the lines only go horizontal and/or vertical (see the alt-text). #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
Graphical sentence analysis from Paul (1910) for the sentence: Am Ufer des Ganges verschlang heute ein riesiger Alligator wutschnaubend einen braunen Inder. Again: somebody should write a book about the strange examples used by linguists!
June 5, 2025 at 3:55 PM
cysouw.bsky.social
Christian Müllener was a Swiss teacher (any tipps about his biography are welcome) wrote *Praktische Übungsschule* (1885) in which he provided exercises to construct sentences based on simple clauses and aa symbolic structure of the complex sentence. #linguistics

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Exercise from Müllener (1885) to construct a complex sentence based on the simple clauses to the left and the symbolic representation to the right. The intended results is: Um seine Brust zu stärken, ging er täglich die steilsten Berge hinan; oder er trat an das Ufer des Meeres, wo die Wogen ein großes Gebrause machten, und suchte mit seiner Stimme das Getöse zu übertönen.
June 4, 2025 at 4:17 PM
cysouw.bsky.social
Martin Hattala (1821-1903), teacher and later professor in Prague, used a simplified *Periodenbild* in his 1857 *Srovnávací mluvnice* for a complex sentence from Ján Kollár. AFAIK, this is the earliest example of graphical grammar in Czech grammars. #linguistics

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strongly simplified *Periodenbild* as used by Martin Hattala (1857) for the sentence: Lépe činí ten, kdo těží s mále‑m, stoje věrně na své postati, velký‑t' je, bud' sluhou nebo králem. ('He does better, who makes do with little, standing true to his position, even if he is great, whether he is a servant or a king.')
May 14, 2025 at 11:01 AM
cysouw.bsky.social
Karel Kunz was a 19thC teacher in Opava, Czech Republic. I cannot find anything on his biography, suggestions welcome! In 1859 he wrote *Náuka o větách* (lessons about sentences), in which he uses a 'depiction in letters' to analyse complex sentences. #linguistics

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"representation in letters" from Kunz (1859) for the Czech Poem "Lépe činí ten, kdo těží s málem, stoje věrně na své postati velkýt' je, bud' sluhou nebo králem."
May 13, 2025 at 6:53 PM
cysouw.bsky.social
Friedrich Julius Horn (1809-1841) was a teacher in Rastenburg (today Kętrzyn in Poland). In his *Grammatik der neuhochdeutschen Sprache auf historischer und logischer Grundlage* (1837) he used *Periodenbilder* to analyse sentences with multiple subordination, following Lehmann (1833). #linguistics
*Periodenbild* from Horn (1837: 313) for the sentence: [A] Wißt ihr denn, [a] ob der kleine Knabe, [α] der neben euch Blumen zerreißt [β] und mit den Blättern spielt, [a] nicht einst als Kriegsgott in einem stürmischen Welttheile aussteigen [b] und mit den Stürmen spielen werde?
May 9, 2025 at 9:16 AM
cysouw.bsky.social
Johann Willibald Nagl (1856-1912) worked on dialects in Graz and Vienna, but also published *Deutsche Sprachlehre für Mittelschulen* in 1906. He uses a verb-centric approach for his syntactic analysis, which also can include subordinate clauses. #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
May 7, 2025 at 5:49 PM
cysouw.bsky.social
Václav Zikmund (1816-1873) was a Czech teacher in Prague. His *Skladba jazyka českého* (1863) contains various graphical syntactic analyses, among them a very early dependency tree (left) and an illustration of different possible constituency structures (right).

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
Very early dependency tree from Zikmund (1863) for Czech Graphical illustration of different interpretations of a complex noun phrase using a kind of constituency analysis from Zikmund (1863)
May 3, 2025 at 10:14 AM
cysouw.bsky.social
Alexander Matveyevich Peshkovsky (1878-1933) was a prolific author of grammatical textbooks and together with D.N. Ushakov reinvigorated language teaching in Russia after the revolution. He experimented with various graphical syntactic displays. #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
Graphical display of sentence structures from Peshkovsky's third edition of *Русскій синтаксисъ въ научномъ освѣщеніи* (‘Russian syntax in scientific education’) from 1928. The actual sentences displayed here can be found here: https://cysouw.github.io/graphicalgrammar/#ex5.25
March 31, 2025 at 10:26 AM
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Sergey Efimovich Kryuchkov (1897-1969) and Mikhail Vasilyevich Svetlaev (1898-1959) wrote *Грамматика учебник*, which Tesnière (1959:15) cites as an inspiration. By this point in time the Russian revolution has arrived in grammars (check the alt-text)! #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
Schema of Kryuchkov & Svetlaev (1936, probably originally published in 1925), also cited by Tesnière (1959: 15 fn.1) as an influence on his stemmata. The sentence analysed here is *Классовый враг бешено сопротивляется социалистическому наступлению* which means *The class enemy is furiously resisting the socialist offensive*. By this point in time the Russian revolution has arrived in grammatical textbooks!
March 26, 2025 at 8:06 PM
cysouw.bsky.social
Pyotr Vladimirovich Smirnovsky (1846—1904) was a teacher in St. Petersburg and wrote the *Учебник русской грамматики* in 1884. It includes a few very early examples of dependency trees. It remains unclear how Smirnovksy came up with this idea. #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
*Графическимь способомь* 'graphical method' from Smirnovsky (1884)
March 26, 2025 at 11:58 AM
cysouw.bsky.social
Dmitrij Nikolajevič Ušakov (1873-1942), professor for Russian language in Moscow, in 1926 wrote *Учебная книга по русскому языку* with A.M. Smirnova and N.N. Nikolajevna, which Tesnière mentions as a major inspiration for his stemmata (1959: 15, fn. 1). #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
graphical analysis of a single-clause sentence from Usakov, Smirnova & Nikolajevna (1926)
March 13, 2025 at 10:28 AM
cysouw.bsky.social
Stepan Grigorievich Barkhudarov (1894-1983) wrote many grammatical textbooks throughout his long life using different kind of graphical grammar. The earliest example occurs in the second volume on syntax of his *Грамматика русского языка* (1938). #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
dependency like схемы 'schema' from Barkhudarov (1938). The direction of the dependency lines indicates the order of the dependent relative to its head.
March 12, 2025 at 4:23 PM
cysouw.bsky.social
Sofya Afanasyevna Zeltser and Dmitry Nikolaevich Vvedensky in 1925 wrote *Как самому изучать русский язык* 'How to learn Russian yourself'. It includes a single dependency-like tree with the words as edges, not as nodes. #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
Dependency tree from Zeltser & Vvedensky (1925) in which the words are interpreted as the edges, not as the nodes.
March 10, 2025 at 4:23 PM
cysouw.bsky.social
Konstantin Fedorovich Petrov (1850-1914) wrote a two-volume *Русскій язык* in 1880. Around 1906 it was extended by an extra page with dependency-like trees. Any information about this author or his inspiration for adding graphics is highly appreciated! #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
dependency-like analysis of a multi-clause sentence from a fable of Igor Dmitriev in the analysis of Petrov (1906)
March 3, 2025 at 6:05 PM
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Johann August Lehmann (1802-1883), school principal in Marienwerder, in 1833 proposed his highly influential *Periodenbild*, a graphical analysis of clausal subordination. Analysing Goethe, Lehmann says *das Bilde dieser Periode zeigt deren Übelstände.* #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
*Periodenbild* by Lehmann (1852) showing the structure of clausal subordination of a complex sentence by Goethe. This analysis shows, according to Lehmann, that the sentence contains *Übelstände*!
February 28, 2025 at 9:54 AM
cysouw.bsky.social
Karl Lugebil (1830-1887), professor in St Petersburg, wrote a review of Anton Dobiasz' book about Apollonius Dyscolus in 1883. Lugebil's graphic illustrates different meanings of copula constructions. This is an early example of hierarchical bracketing! #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
Hierarchical bracketing used to explain different syntactic interpretations in a review of Karl Lugebil, written 1883.
February 22, 2025 at 11:33 AM
cysouw.bsky.social
Karl Mager (1810-1858), teacher and general educator, wrote *Deutsches Sprachbuch* in 1842. It includes a visual analysis of multi-clause sentences by using indentation for levels of subordination and alphanumeric codes to analyse the kind of clause. #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
Analysis of a multi-clause complex sentence from Karl Mager (1842). He uses indentation to show the level of subordination.
February 21, 2025 at 11:23 AM
cysouw.bsky.social
Trying to find graphical grammar in 19thC Russian grammars: any pointers are highly appreciated! Today I found an early example from 1844 by Fedor Ivanovich Buslaev (1818-1897). This is an analysis of complex clausal centre-embedding in a Krylov fable. #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
graphical analysis of complex clausal centre-embedding in the Krylov Fable "the wolf and the shepherds" in the analysis of Fedor Ivanovich Buslaev from 1844. The braces indicate that the clause is to be embedded inside the clause above.
February 20, 2025 at 1:47 PM
cysouw.bsky.social
Franz Wollmann (1871-1961), director of a teacher's seminary in Vienna, wrote *Deutsche Sprachkunde auf sprachgeschichtlicher Grundlage* in 1935. Like others, he used a dependency-type tree, but he also allowed for subordinate clauses as possible nodes. #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
Dependency-type tree from Wollmann (1935) in a style quite widespread in the German-speaking world at this time. Of specific interest is the option introduced by Wollmann to put complete subordinate clauses as nodes in the tree.
February 19, 2025 at 1:25 PM
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In 1950 Robert Killinger (1925-2006) and Alfred Doppler (born 1921) write a book about grammar for a wider audience. It wasn't a smash hit, but it shows again that drawing syntactic trees was widespread and well-known long before Chomsky and Tesnière stepped on the scene. #linguistics
Graphical analysis by Killinger & Doppler (1950) using a dependency-type tree. This kind of analysis is widespread before Chomsky and Tesniere became household names in linguistics
February 12, 2025 at 10:35 AM
cysouw.bsky.social
Franz Honcamp (1805-1866), teacher in Büren, was laid off in 1854 because of his church-criticism (still a thing in 19thC Germany). His 1841 textbook has numbered tables (citing Becker) that are almost exactly like the Universal Dependency (UD) format. #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
Tabular analysis of a sentence structure by Honcamp (1841) using numbered rows. This numbering allows Honcamp to add exact references for dependent elements to their heads by using these numbers. This approach is exactly like the contemporary Universal Dependency format.
February 11, 2025 at 2:27 PM
cysouw.bsky.social
\morningShowerRevelation

LLMs are overparameterized models: perfect fit, but little insight

(this idea is of course not new: Bartlett et al. (2019) call it “benign overfitting”)

Maybe somebody should try AIC-type model selection: Not to get better LLMs, but to obtain interpretable parameters
February 9, 2025 at 1:13 PM
cysouw.bsky.social
Hanz Glinz (1913-2008), professor in Aachen, wrote an early structuralist grammar of German, called *Die innere Form des Deutschen* (1952). He uses syntactic tests as the basis of his analysis. He exemplifies his approach with a massive fold-out sheet. #linguistics

cysouw.github.io/graphicalgra...
massive 10-page fold-out sheet from Glinz (1952) illustrating his grammatical analysis using a paragraph from a letter from Goethe.
February 7, 2025 at 2:44 PM