Acronym with a number as a name

[leky40]

I was trying to annotate some names with an English acronym and a number which are used in Thai texts. The names are written without whitespace between the acronym and number, as in: N3 and L6. These are for the types of lottery in Thailand.

I remember that #1136 discussed the similar subject. And I checked how this kind of name should be treated in the guideline.

And the acronym and the number of the 2 names are not delimited. It is confusing somehow because I have been dealing with this challenge of Thai for the whole time. Plus, these English names are created from Thai context.

So should each of these names is made one token as represented?

I went through the English treebank to see how the similar names are treated. They are made one token. I am not sure if this is specific only in English, or if this should be done in all languages for UD.

If each name is made one token, it will be tagged PROPN. This is very simple.

If separated tokens, the number should be tagged PROPN, not NUM, regarding to the guideline mentioned above. And the relation between the acronym and the number should be flat. Right?

As for the relation flat, it is understandable for names. But differentiating between cardinal and ordinal numbers in Thai is done by the position placement. That is, placing it before a noun expresses quantities, while placing after a noun expresses sequences mostly but not always. No inflectional markers on numbers and spelled-out numbers are used.

My question for this relation decision is if it should be followed in all languages, or if each language should make their own decision.

As known, Thai names for people and places are long from compounding words. I make a person name one word with PROPN no matter how long it is.

And I annotate place names in Thai 2 ways:

First, the names for well-known and officially-set places in Thailand are made one token with PROPN. This will facilitate some language processing reasons.

Second, the place names which are created arbitrarily are separated into single words. And they are each syntactically tagged and annotated with ExtPos=PROPN at the head.

So if these 2 names of the lottery or any other names with a number in Thai are treated with separation, should it be flat or nmod? And a number should be tagged NUM or PROPN? As mentioned, place names are created from Thai context (both meaning and syntactic structure). I am then not sure if I should follow what I have set for Thai, or if I should follow the UD guidelines cited above.

[dan-zeman]

I think that keeping the letter and the number as one token is way more simple and there really are no strong reasons to split it, are they?

[leky40]

I think that keeping the letter and the number as one token is way more simple and there really are no strong reasons to split it, are they?

I think so. I just wanna make sure if this should be done by following the UD guidelines or the language-specific guidelines. Generally, in Thai a number is delimited before and after, as like other languages. But the Thai organisation or people who create these 2 names with English might have some reasons.

The names mean a lottery ticket showing 3 figures or 6 figures. So the letter N stands for the word Numbers, while the letter L stands for the word Lottery. I googled this info.

And they are firstly created from the Thai names which are also named in English ones. Then the letters N and L are the head nouns modified with the numbers 3 and 6 expressing the amounts of number figures.

To express quantities in Thai, the construction is Head Noun Number or Quantifier Classifier Noun of the head noun. However, a classifier noun can be deleted for some reasons, such as avoiding repetition. As mentioned, they are created from Thai context. Apart from the tokenization issue, I was questioning about the choice of the relation for these names if separated. And through their actual meaning, it should be nummod instead. And should they really be combined as one or separated to represent their meaning?