The logical architecture of CoMParS and its XML implementation

Abstract

CoMParS (Collection of Multilingual Parallel Sequences) is a project under way at the Institute of Deutsche Sprache (IDS) in Mannheim, Germany. CoMParS runs in the context of the long-term project GDE (Grammatik des Deutschen im europäischen Vergleich; German Grammar in European Comparison). The goal of the GDE is to create a novel contrastive grammar of German vis-à-vis other European languages. Alongside German, which is the central focus, the core languages for comparison are English, French, Hungarian and Polish, representing different typological classes. The primary practical aim of CoMParS is to serve as an electronic extension of printed contrastive grammars created as deliverables of GDE. A more farreaching goal is to lay the foundation for a flexible multilingual exploratory resource, capable of supplying new contrastive generalizations. The present submission looks at the logical architecture of CoMParS and at selected details of the XML implementation.