noun
surface form
Technical term in linguistics and natural language processing referring to the literal written or spoken form of a word or phrase, as opposed to its underlying representation.
形態素解析では、表層形式から原形を推定する。
In morphological analysis, the base form is inferred from the surface form.
Compound of 表層 (surface layer) and 形式 (form). A calque from English 'surface form', used in linguistics.