Natural language for human and machine.

NLCST discloses the parts of natural language as a concrete syntax tree. Concrete means all information is stored in this tree and an exact replica of the original document can be re-created.

NLCST is a subset of Unist, and implemented by retext.

This document describes version 1.0.0 of NLCST. Changelog »

Table of Contents

• CST

  • Root
  • Paragraph
  • Sentence
  • Word
  • Symbol
  • Punctuation
  • WhiteSpace
  • Source
  • TextNode

• List of Utilities

• License

CST

Root

Root (Parent) houses all nodes.

interface Root <: Parent {
  type: "RootNode";
}

Paragraph

Paragraph (Parent) represents a self-contained unit of discourse in writing dealing with a particular point or idea.

interface Paragraph <: Parent {
  type: "ParagraphNode";
}

Sentence

Sentence (Parent) represents grouping of grammatically linked words, that in principle tells a complete thought, although it may make little sense taken in isolation out of context.

interface Sentence <: Parent {
  type: "SentenceNode";
}

Word

Word (Parent) represents the smallest element that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content.

interface Word <: Parent {
  type: "WordNode";
}

Symbol

Symbol (Text) represents typographical devices like white space, punctuation, signs, and more, different from characters which represent sounds (like letters and numerals).

interface Symbol <: Text {
  type: "SymbolNode";
}

Punctuation

Punctuation (Symbol) represents typographical devices which aid understanding and correct reading of other grammatical units.

interface Punctuation <: Symbol {
  type: "PunctuationNode";
}

WhiteSpace

WhiteSpace (Symbol) represents typographical devices devoid of content, separating other grammatical units.

interface WhiteSpace <: Symbol {
  type: "WhiteSpaceNode";
}

Source

Source (Text) represents an external (ungrammatical) value embedded into a grammatical unit: a hyperlink, a line, and such.

interface Source <: Symbol {
  type: "SourceNode";
}

TextNode

TextNode (Text) represents actual content in an NLCST document: one or more characters. Note that its type property is TextNode, but it is different from the asbtract Text interface.

interface TextNode < Text {
    type: "TextNode";
}

List of Utilities

• wooorm/nlcst-is-literal — Check whether a node is meant literally;
• wooorm/nlcst-normalize — Normalize a word for easier comparison;
• wooorm/nlcst-search — Search for patterns in an NLCST tree;
• wooorm/nlcst-to-string — Stringify a node;
• wooorm/nlcst-test — Validate a NLCST node;

In addition, see Unist for other utilities which work with retext nodes.

License

MIT © Titus Wormer