Navneeth017/malayalam-semantic-tags

Malayalam Semantic Tags

A large semantic resource for Malayalam: 152,454 sentences (1,901,014 words) in which every predicate (the word or phrase expressing an event, action or state) is identified, and the words around it are labelled with their semantic role: who did it, to whom, where, when, how, why, with what.

Syntax tells you a word's grammatical form. Semantic roles tell you the meaning relation it holds to an event. In ഫിഫ ലോകകപ്പ് ട്രോഫി ഏപ്രിൽ ഏഴിന് അബുദാബിയിൽ പ്രദർശിപ്പിക്കും ("The FIFA World Cup trophy will be displayed in Abu Dhabi on April 7"), the predicate is പ്രദർശിപ്പിക്കും:

• what is displayed (Theme): the trophy;
• where (Location): അബുദാബിയിൽ;
• when (Temporal): ഏപ്രിൽ ഏഴിന്.

This who-did-what-to-whom structure is central to question answering, information extraction, event understanding, summarisation and machine translation.

Sentences	152,454
Words	1,901,014
Predicate frames	312,106 (about 2 per sentence)
Sentences with at least one predicate	142,268
Labelled arguments	586,214
Semantic roles	22

The dataset comes in two views of the same annotation:

Config	One row per	Use it for
tokens (default)	word	sequence labelling; aligning with other word-level resources
frames	predicate	predicate-argument extraction; event analysis

from datasets import load_dataset
tokens = load_dataset("Navneeth017/malayalam-semantic-tags", "tokens", split="train")
frames = load_dataset("Navneeth017/malayalam-semantic-tags", "frames", split="train")

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tokens view: columns

Column	Type	Description
sent_id	string	Sentence identifier (ml_pos_0000001 …).
tok_id	int	Position of the word in its sentence, starting at 1. Sort by sent_id, tok_id to read sentences in order.
word	string	The word as it appears in the sentence.
predicate	string	If the word is (part of) a predicate, its predicate id within the sentence: P1, P2, … in left-to-right order. Empty otherwise. A predicate spanning several words (e.g. കൊല്ലപ്പെടുകയും ചെയ്തു) has the same id on each of its words.
semantic_role	string	The word's role(s) relative to the predicates of its sentence, as predicate_id:BIO-Role, separated by ; when the word belongs to arguments of more than one predicate. B- marks the first word of an argument and I- a continuing word. Empty if the word fills no role.

Reading semantic_role: P2:B-Experiencer;P3:B-Theme;P4:I-Theme means this word:

• starts the Experiencer of predicate P2;
• starts the Theme of predicate P3;
• continues the Theme of predicate P4.

A word can play different roles for different events in the same sentence.

Example: കന്യാസ്ത്രീയാകാൻ ആഗ്രഹിച്ച യുവതി പിന്നീട് പോൺ താരമായി മാറിയ സംഭവം വാർത്തകളിൽ ഇടംപിടിച്ചു . ("The incident of the young woman who wished to become a nun later becoming a porn star made the news.")

tok_id	word	predicate	semantic_role
1	കന്യാസ്ത്രീയാകാൻ	P1	P2:B-Content;P4:B-Theme
2	ആഗ്രഹിച്ച	P2	P4:I-Theme
3	യുവതി		P2:B-Experiencer;P3:B-Theme;P4:I-Theme
4	പിന്നീട്		P3:B-Temporal;P4:I-Theme
5	പോൺ		P3:B-Result;P4:I-Theme
6	താരമായി		P3:I-Result;P4:I-Theme
7	മാറിയ	P3	P4:I-Theme
8	സംഭവം		P4:I-Theme
9	വാർത്തകളിൽ		P4:B-Location
10	ഇടംപിടിച്ചു	P4
11	.

What each predicate expresses:

• P2 ആഗ്രഹിച്ച ("wished"): who wished = യുവതി (Experiencer); what = കന്യാസ്ത്രീയാകാൻ (Content).
• P3 മാറിയ ("became"): who = യുവതി (Theme); when = പിന്നീട് (Temporal); into what = പോൺ താരമായി (Result).
• P4 ഇടംപിടിച്ചു ("found a place"): what = the whole event phrase, words 1-8 (Theme); where = വാർത്തകളിൽ (Location).

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frames view: columns

Column	Type	Description
sent_id	string	Sentence identifier; matches the tokens view.
predicate_id	string	P1, P2, …; matches the predicate column of the tokens view.
predicate	string	The predicate's words.
pred_start, pred_end	int	tok_id of the predicate's first and last word (inclusive).
arguments	list	The predicate's arguments. Each has role, text, and start / end (tok_id of its first and last word, inclusive).

Example row (predicate P3 above):

{"sent_id": "ml_pos_0000001", "predicate_id": "P3", "predicate": "മാറിയ", "pred_start": 7, "pred_end": 7,
 "arguments": [{"role": "Theme",    "text": "യുവതി",       "start": 3, "end": 3},
               {"role": "Temporal", "text": "പിന്നീട്",     "start": 4, "end": 4},
               {"role": "Result",   "text": "പോൺ താരമായി", "start": 5, "end": 6}]}

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Predicates

A predicate is the word or phrase at the centre of an event or state: usually a verb, in any of its Malayalam forms.

Form	Examples
Finite verbs	തീരുമാനിച്ചു "decided", സ്ഥിരീകരിച്ചു "confirmed"
Participles	ആഗ്രഹിച്ച "who wished", പരിക്കേറ്റ "injured"
Infinitives and purpose forms	പിടികൂടാൻ "to catch"
Conditional forms	പറഞ്ഞാൽ "if said"
Nominalised verbs	ജീവിക്കുന്നത് "living"
Multi-word predicates (15,573)	രജിസ്റ്റർ ചെയ്ത "registered", കൊല്ലപ്പെടുകയും ചെയ്തു "was killed"

Malayalam chains events through participles and converbs, so one sentence often contains several predicates (2 on average). Each one has its own set of arguments.

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Semantic roles

There are 22 roles. Each example shows an argument [in brackets] and the predicate it belongs to (→).

Participants: who or what is involved

Role	Count	Meaning	Example
Agent	118,103	The one who deliberately performs the action.	[ഞാൻ] → തീരുമാനിച്ചു: "I decided"
Theme	183,625	The thing or event that the action is about, moves, or is affected without change of state. The most frequent role.	അധികൃതർ ഉടൻ [നടപടി] → സ്വീകരിക്കണം: "authorities must take action"
Patient	26,140	The one that undergoes the action and is changed or affected by it.	[രോഗികളെ] മരണത്തിലേക്ക് → നയിക്കുമെന്ന: "will lead patients to death"
Experiencer	10,562	The one who feels, perceives or experiences something.	നട്ടെല്ലിന് പരിക്കേറ്റ [ഉദ്യോഗസ്ഥൻ]: "the officer who was injured"
Stimulus	1,304	What causes a feeling or perception.	[മാതൃകാപരമായ അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെ ജീവിതം] എല്ലാവരെയും → ആകർഷിച്ചു: "his exemplary life attracted everyone"
Content	24,652	What is said, thought, known or confirmed: the content of speech or cognition.	[രോഗബാധയില്ലെന്ന്] → സ്ഥിരീകരിച്ചു: "confirmed that there is no infection"
Recipient	25,241	The one who receives something or towards whom the action is directed.	[ശരീരത്തിന്] ദോഷം → ചെയ്തേക്കാം: "may harm the body"
Beneficiary	1,780	The one for whose benefit the action is done.	[വെസ്റ്റ് ഇൻഡീസിനായി] → കളത്തിലിറങ്ങി: "took the field for the West Indies"
Attribute	8,623	A property or status assigned to an entity.	പരിശോധനാഫലം [നെഗറ്റീവ്] → ആയിരുന്നു: "the test result was negative"
Topic	1,403	What something is about.	[ഒരു സിനിമയെക്കുറിച്ച്] അഭിപ്രായം → പ്രകടിപ്പിക്കാം: "can give an opinion about a film"

Circumstances: where, when, how, why

Role	Count	Meaning	Example
Location	51,722	Where the event takes place.	[അബുദാബിയിൽ] → പ്രദർശിപ്പിക്കും: "will be displayed in Abu Dhabi"
Source	8,028	Starting point or origin ("from").	['അമ്മ' സംഘടനയില് നിന്നും] → രാജിവച്ചു: "resigned from the 'Amma' organisation"
Goal	13,171	End point or destination ("to", "into").	[ഇതിലേക്ക്] → ചേർക്കേണ്ടതാണ്: "should be added to this"
Temporal	44,241	When the event happens.	[ഭാവിയിൽ] ഫോണിന്റെ വില → വർദ്ധിക്കാൻ: "the phone's price may rise in future"
Manner	28,870	How the action is performed.	[പ്രകൃതിയുമായി ഇണങ്ങി] → ജീവിക്കുന്നത്: "living in harmony with nature"
Instrument	6,301	The tool or medium used.	[വെബ്സൈറ്റ് വഴി] അപേക്ഷ → സമർപ്പിക്കാവുന്നതാണ്: "can apply through the website"
Means	3	The method by which something is achieved.	(rare)
Degree	4,770	Extent or intensity.	[ഒരുപാട്] → വിഷമിപ്പിച്ചു: "upset (her) a lot"

Logical relations: why, for what, under what condition, with what outcome

Role	Count	Meaning	Example
Cause	12,447	The reason or cause of the event.	[ഈ സംഭവങ്ങളോടെ] ബന്ധം → അകന്നു: "the relationship drifted apart because of these events"
Purpose	11,890	The aim the action is meant to achieve.	[പ്രതിയെ പിടികൂടാൻ] തിരച്ചിൽ → ഊർജിതമാക്കി: "intensified the search to catch the accused"
Condition	416	The condition under which the event holds ("if").	[വിഷമം തോന്നിയാൽ] → ഉറങ്ങാവുന്നതാണ്: "if you feel uneasy, you may sleep"
Result	2,922	The state or outcome the event produces.	സൗഹൃദം പിന്നീട് [പ്രണയമായി] → മാറി: "the friendship later turned into love"

Why these roles matter

• Participant roles (Agent, Patient, Theme, Experiencer, Recipient…) answer who did what to whom. That's the core of an event, and of questions like "who resigned?" or "what was confirmed?".
• Circumstance roles (Location, Temporal, Manner, Source, Goal, Instrument) answer where, when and how. They're the backbone of event extraction and timeline building.
• Logical roles (Cause, Purpose, Condition, Result) capture why and with what effect. They're essential for reasoning, summarisation and causal question answering.
• In Malayalam these roles map only loosely onto surface form. The same dative suffix -ക്ക് can mark a Recipient, a Beneficiary or an Experiencer, and the same locative -ൽ can mark a Location or a Topic. Semantic roles make that distinction explicit, beyond what grammatical case alone shows.

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Notes

• In a small number of very long sentences (0.4%), words near the end of the sentence carry no role.
• To read the TSV with pandas, turn off quote handling (quoting=3); some words are a bare " character.

Files

File	Description
data/tokens.parquet	tokens view (default config)
data/frames.parquet	frames view
malayalam_semantic_tags.tsv	tokens view as tab-separated text

License

Released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. You are free to use, share and adapt this dataset, including commercially, with appropriate credit.