Annotation manual for the Penn Historical Corpora and the PCEEC

This annotation manual is a slightly revised version of Release 1, written in connection with the first release of the Penn-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Early Modern English (PPCEME) in March 2005. The revision corrects typos and broken links, but does not affect the substance of the guidelines. The current version applies to the following corpora:

• the Penn-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Middle English, 2nd edition (PPCME2)
• the Penn-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Early Modern English (PPCEME)
• the Penn Parsed Corpus of Modern British English (PPCMBE)
• the Parsed Corpus of Early English Correspondence (PCEEC)

There remain slight annotation differences among the above-named corpora (notably, between the PPCME2 and the later corpora). These differences will be minimized further in subsequent editions of the corpora.

Acknowledgments

• The National Endowment for the Humanities for financial support under NEH Grant PA 23382-99, "Creating an electronic parsed corpus of Early Modern English."

• The National Science Foundation for financial support under NSF Grant BCS 99-05488, "The emergence of Modern English syntax."

• The National Science Foundation for financial support under NSF Grant BCS 04-18061, "A parsed historical corpus of Modern British English."

• The users of the PPCME2 and PPCEME for their financial support in purchasing the corpora.

• Tony Kroch and especially Ann Taylor for many helpful discussions concerning the original guidelines for the PPCME2 and their adaptation to modern English.