# Parsing Universal Dependencies without training

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1701.03163 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1701.03163/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 11 Jan 2017.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Learning Syntax from Naturally-Occurring Bracketings](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.13933/) (2021)
- [Curriculum Learning with Adam: The Devil Is in the Wrong Details](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.12202/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We propose UDP, the first training-free parser for Universal Dependencies (UD). Our algorithm is based on PageRank and a small set of head attachment rules. It features two-step decoding to guarantee that function words are attached as leaf nodes. The parser requires no training, and it is competitive with a delexicalized transfer system. UDP offers a linguistically sound unsupervised alternative to cross-lingual parsing for UD, which can be used as a baseline for such systems. The parser has very few parameters and is distinctly robust to domain change across languages.