Treatment of existential/possessive יש and אין

[nschneid]

In Berlin we discussed why יש and אין are tagged as verbs. This accords with the argument mentioned here that their colloquial usage in Modern Hebrew is more verb-like than in classical Hebrew. In particular, the theme (thing that exists/is possessed) can be marked with את like a direct object, though normatively it is not.

In the data, I see 4 instances of יש with a dobj, 3 of which have את and 1 of which (oddly) has מ-. Most usages of יש, however, appear to have an nsubj.

I wonder if it is worth distinguishing these constructions in the parse somehow—e.g., with nsubj:exist/dobj:exist for the theme and iobj:poss for the possessor (when present). I think this would clarify the situation for annotators as well as users.

[yoavg]

the מ is part of "חלק מ" ("part of"), a quantifier, which doesn't look too odd to me, although I do agree that the annotation of these quantifiers is a bit weird in the current version. Open to suggestions on these.

Re adding exist and poss as subtypes, sounds good to me, but I'd like to hear @rtsarfaty 's opinion as well before making the change.