appos: appositional modifier
An appositional modifier is a pronoun or noun (phrase) that follows and defines or modifies another noun (phrase). The dependent comes immediately after the head.
There are three situations in Mandarin for which we apply the appos relation. The classical example involves the appositional modifier defining the specific individual(s) which the first noun (phrase) refers to.
# visual-style 3 5 appos color:blue
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1 我 _ PRON _ _ 3 nmod _ 1SG
2 的 _ PART _ _ 1 case _ GEN
3 老闆娘 _ NOUN _ _ 0 root _ female-boss
4 楊 _ PROPN _ _ 5 compound _ Yang
5 女士 _ NOUN _ _ 3 appos _ Ms.
1 "my _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
2 boss _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
3 Ms. _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
4 Yang" _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
Apposition always goes from left to right. In the case that the secondary noun is in front, either dislocated or vocative may apply instead.
In the second situation, the second noun phrase describes (rather than specifies) the first noun phrase, usually indicating or emphasizing the number of participants/objects, and/or describing the relationship between the participants (e.g., 他們 兩 夫妻 / tāmén liǎng fūfù they two husband-wife “the two of them spouses”).
# visual-style 1 3 appos color:blue
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1 他們 _ PRON _ _ 4 nsubj _ 3PL
2 四 _ NUM _ _ 3 nummod _ four
3 個 _ NOUN _ _ 1 appos _ CL:generic
4 寫 _ VERB _ _ 0 root _ write
5 的 _ PART _ _ 4 mark:rel _ NMZR
1 "what _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
2 they _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
3 the _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
4 four _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
5 of _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
6 them _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
7 wrote" _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
In another situation, a noun indicating a reference location may be followed by a pronoun, such as 那邊 / nàbiān ‘there’ and 這裡 / zhèlǐ ‘here’, indicating proximity to the speaker. These pronouns are treated as appos dependents of the noun preceding them.
# visual-style 3 4 appos color:blue
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1 他們 _ PRON _ _ 2 nsubj _ 3PL
2 在 _ VERB _ _ 0 root _ be-at
3 門口 _ NOUN _ _ 2 obj _ doorway
4 那邊 _ PRON _ _ 3 appos _ there
1 "They're _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
2 by _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
3 the _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
4 doorway _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
5 over _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
6 there." _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
Treebank Statistics (UD_Chinese)
This relation is universal.
1254 nodes (1%) are attached to their parents as appos.
700 instances of appos (56%) are left-to-right (parent precedes child).
Average distance between parent and child is 3.64752791068581.
The following 38 pairs of parts of speech are connected with appos: zh-pos/PROPN-zh-pos/NOUN (397; 32% instances), zh-pos/NOUN-zh-pos/NOUN (275; 22% instances), zh-pos/NOUN-zh-pos/X (95; 8% instances), zh-pos/PART-zh-pos/NOUN (82; 7% instances), zh-pos/PROPN-zh-pos/PART (78; 6% instances), zh-pos/PROPN-zh-pos/X (69; 6% instances), zh-pos/X-zh-pos/NOUN (43; 3% instances), zh-pos/PART-zh-pos/X (42; 3% instances), zh-pos/NOUN-zh-pos/VERB (19; 2% instances), zh-pos/PROPN-zh-pos/PROPN (19; 2% instances), zh-pos/NOUN-zh-pos/PART (18; 1% instances), zh-pos/VERB-zh-pos/NOUN (15; 1% instances), zh-pos/NOUN-zh-pos/PRON (14; 1% instances), zh-pos/PART-zh-pos/PART (12; 1% instances), zh-pos/NOUN-zh-pos/PROPN (8; 1% instances), zh-pos/PROPN-zh-pos/PRON (8; 1% instances), zh-pos/X-zh-pos/PART (7; 1% instances), zh-pos/VERB-zh-pos/X (6; 0% instances), zh-pos/NUM-zh-pos/X (5; 0% instances), zh-pos/PART-zh-pos/NUM (5; 0% instances), zh-pos/PART-zh-pos/PROPN (5; 0% instances), zh-pos/NUM-zh-pos/NOUN (4; 0% instances), zh-pos/PRON-zh-pos/NOUN (4; 0% instances), zh-pos/X-zh-pos/X (4; 0% instances), zh-pos/VERB-zh-pos/PART (3; 0% instances), zh-pos/ADJ-zh-pos/NOUN (2; 0% instances), zh-pos/NOUN-zh-pos/ADJ (2; 0% instances), zh-pos/NOUN-zh-pos/NUM (2; 0% instances), zh-pos/PART-zh-pos/PRON (2; 0% instances), zh-pos/ADJ-zh-pos/PART (1; 0% instances), zh-pos/ADP-zh-pos/NOUN (1; 0% instances), zh-pos/NUM-zh-pos/PART (1; 0% instances), zh-pos/PART-zh-pos/VERB (1; 0% instances), zh-pos/PRON-zh-pos/PRON (1; 0% instances), zh-pos/PROPN-zh-pos/ADJ (1; 0% instances), zh-pos/PUNCT-zh-pos/NOUN (1; 0% instances), zh-pos/SYM-zh-pos/NOUN (1; 0% instances), zh-pos/VERB-zh-pos/PROPN (1; 0% instances).
# visual-style 9 bgColor:blue
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# visual-style 11 bgColor:blue
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# visual-style 11 9 appos color:blue
1 1355 1355 NUM CD NumType=Card 2 nummod _ SpaceAfter=No
2 年 年 NOUN NNB _ 12 nmod:tmod _ SpaceAfter=No
3 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No
4 勃蘭登堡 勃蘭登堡 PROPN NNP _ 12 nsubj:pass _ SpaceAfter=No
5 被 被 VERB BB Voice=Pass 12 aux:pass _ SpaceAfter=No
6 神聖 神聖 ADJ JJ _ 8 amod _ SpaceAfter=No
7 羅馬 羅馬 PROPN NNP _ 8 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No
8 帝國 帝國 NOUN NN _ 9 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No
9 皇帝 皇帝 NOUN NN _ 11 appos _ SpaceAfter=No
10 查理 查理 PROPN NNP _ 11 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No
11 四世 四世 PROPN NNP _ 12 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No
12 升 升 VERB VV _ 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No
13 為 為 VERB VC _ 12 mark _ SpaceAfter=No
14 選侯 選侯 VERB VV _ 15 case:suff _ SpaceAfter=No
15 國 國 PART SFN _ 12 obj _ SpaceAfter=No
16 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No
# visual-style 9 bgColor:blue
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# visual-style 3 bgColor:blue
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# visual-style 3 9 appos color:blue
1 化外 化外 NOUN NN _ 3 det _ SpaceAfter=No
2 之 之 PART DEC Case=Gen 1 case:dec _ SpaceAfter=No
3 地 地 NOUN NN _ 11 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No
4 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No
5 文明 文明 NOUN NN _ 6 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No
6 地區 地區 NOUN NN _ 9 det _ SpaceAfter=No
7 以外 以外 NOUN NN _ 6 acl _ SpaceAfter=No
8 的 的 PART DEC Case=Gen 6 case:dec _ SpaceAfter=No
9 地方 地方 NOUN NN _ 3 appos _ SpaceAfter=No
10 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No
11 即 即 VERB VC _ 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No
12 沒有 沒有 VERB VV _ 11 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No
13 開化 開化 VERB VV _ 15 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No
14 的 的 PART DEC _ 13 mark:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No
15 地方 地方 NOUN NN _ 12 obj _ SpaceAfter=No
16 . . PUNCT . _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No
# visual-style 5 bgColor:blue
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# visual-style 3 bgColor:blue
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# visual-style 3 5 appos color:blue
1 動作 動作 NOUN NN _ 3 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No
2 冒險 冒險 NOUN NN _ 3 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No
3 遊戲 遊戲 NOUN NN _ 12 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No
4 ( ( PUNCT ( _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No
5 A-AVG A-AVG X FW _ 3 appos _ SpaceAfter=No
6 ) ) PUNCT ) _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No
7 : : PUNCT : _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No
8 是 是 AUX VC _ 12 cop _ SpaceAfter=No
9 冒險 冒險 NOUN NN _ 10 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No
10 遊戲 遊戲 NOUN NN _ 12 det _ SpaceAfter=No
11 的 的 PART DEC Case=Gen 10 case:dec _ SpaceAfter=No
12 分支 分支 NOUN NN _ 15 dep _ SpaceAfter=No
13 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No
14 它 它 PRON PRP Person=3 15 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No
15 融合 融合 VERB VV _ 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No
16 了 了 PART AS Aspect=Perf 15 case:aspect _ SpaceAfter=No
17 動作 動作 NOUN NN _ 18 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No
18 遊戲 遊戲 NOUN NN _ 21 det _ SpaceAfter=No
19 的 的 PART DEC Case=Gen 18 case:dec _ SpaceAfter=No
20 一些 一些 ADJ JJ _ 21 amod _ SpaceAfter=No
21 特徵 特徵 NOUN NN _ 15 obj _ SpaceAfter=No
22 . . PUNCT . _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No
appos in other languages: [am] [ar] [bg] [bxr] [ca] [ckb] [cop] [cs] [cu] [da] [de] [el] [en] [es] [et] [eu] [fa] [fi] [fo] [fr] [ga] [gl] [got] [grc] [he] [hi] [hr] [hu] [id] [it] [ja] [kk] [kmr] [ko] [la] [lv] [mr] [nl] [no] [pl] [pt] [ro] [ru] [sa] [sk] [sla] [sl] [so] [sr] [sv] [swl] [ta] [tr] [u] [ug] [uk] [ur] [urj] [vi] [yue] [zh]