908 research outputs found
Indeterminacy by underspecification
We examine the formal encoding of feature indeterminacy, focussing on case indeterminacy as an exemplar of the phenomenon. Forms that are indeterminately specified for the value of a feature can simultaneously satisfy conflicting requirements on that feature and thus are a challenge to constraint-based formalisms which model the compatibility of information carried by linguistic items by combining or integrating that information. Much previous work in constraint-based formalisms has sought to provide an analysis of feature indeterminacy by departing in some way from ‘vanilla’ assumptions either about feature representations or about how compatibility is checked by integrating information from various sources. In the present contribution we argue instead that a solution to the range of issues posed by feature indeterminacy can be provided in a ‘vanilla’ feature-based approach which is formally simple, does not postulate special structures or objects in the representation of case or other indeterminate features, and requires no special provision for the analysis of coordination. We view the value of an indeterminate feature such as case as a complex and possibly underspecified feature structure. Our approach correctly allows for incremental and monotonic refinement of case requirements in particular contexts. It uses only atomic boolean-valued features and requires no special mechanisms or additional assumptions in the treatment of coordination or other phenomena to handle indeterminacy. Our account covers the behaviour of both indeterminate arguments and indeterminate predicates, that is, predicates placing indeterminate requirements on their arguments.</jats:p
Interaction Grammars
Interaction Grammar (IG) is a grammatical formalism based on the notion of
polarity. Polarities express the resource sensitivity of natural languages by
modelling the distinction between saturated and unsaturated syntactic
structures. Syntactic composition is represented as a chemical reaction guided
by the saturation of polarities. It is expressed in a model-theoretic framework
where grammars are constraint systems using the notion of tree description and
parsing appears as a process of building tree description models satisfying
criteria of saturation and minimality
Design of Chinese HPSG Framework for Data-Driven Parsing
PACLIC 23 / City University of Hong Kong / 3-5 December 200
Auxiliary-Stranding Relative Clauses
A little discussed feature of English are non-restrictive relative clauses in which the antecedent is normally not an NP and the gap follows an auxiliary, as in Kim will sing, which Lee won?t. These relative clauses resemble clauses with auxiliary complement ellipsis or fronting. There are a variety of analyses that might be proposed, but there are reasons for thinking that the best analysis is one where which is a nominal filler associated with a gap which is generally non-nominal: a filler-gap mismatch analysis in other words
Predicate conjoining in Hadiyya: a head driven PS grammar
In examining certain structures of the East Cushitic language Hadiyya,
this thesis, in keeping with recent trends, adopts a mono-stratal framework,
framed in terms of the mathematical operation of Unification;
namely Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG). Chapter 1 is devoted
to an exposition of the model employing situation semantics.
Chapter 2 discusses the categories of noun, noun phrase, and verb. The
discussion centres on the basic morphological categories of Person, Number,
Gender and Case, and the variety of verbal forms which are relevant
to an appreciation of following chapters, and a tentative (partial) feature
system is set out.
Chapter 3 deals with the mono-clausal sentence, briefly expounding basic
sentence types, with the focus of the chapter on the issues of subcategorisation,
constituent order, "pro-drop", and agreement. Several revisions
of the formalism are proposed, and a general goal formulated.
Part II deals with nexus mechanisms. First is a short chapter, 4, on
canonical coordination as it occurs in Hadiyya, in which an attempt is
made to formalise resolution rules, and a broader, cross-linguistic look
is taken at the categories of Person, Gender and Number in coordinate
phrases. Some of Hadiyya's other lexical connectors are also briefly
considered. In the two final chapters, both subordinative and coordinative
systems are reviewed, and these chapters provide an end-focus to
the study. Chapter 5, discusses the adverbial clause, and the complementation
system, while Chapter 6 covers clause chaining/ serialisation,
switch reference, and the encoding of simultaneous events, in which
agreement and control questions are addressed.
A short final chapter brings together some of the major theoretical
suggestions arising.
Classification-based phrase structure grammar: an extended revised version of HPSG
This thesis is concerned with a presentation of Classification -based Phrase Structure
Grammar (or cPSG), a grammatical theory that has grown out of extensive revisions
of, and extensions to, HPSG. The fundamental difference between this theory and HPSG
concerns the central role that classification plays in the grammar: the grammar classifies
strings, according to their feature structure descriptions, as being of various types.
Apart from the role of classification, the theory bears a close resemblance to HPSG,
though it is by no means a direct translation, including numerous revisions and extensions.
A central goal in the development of the theory has been its computational
implementation, which is included in the thesis.The presentation may be divided into four parts. In the first, chapters 1 and 2, we
present the grammatical formalism within which the theory is stated. This consists of a
development of the notion of a classificatory system (chapter 1), and the incorporation
of hierarchality into that notion (chapter 2).The second part concerns syntactic issues. Chapter 3 revises the HPSG treatment of
specifiers, complements and adjuncts, incorporating ideas that specifiers and complements
should be distinguished and presenting a treatment of adjuncts whereby the
head is selected for by the adjunct. Chapter 4 presents several options for an account of
unbounded dependencies. The accounts are based loosely on that of GPSG, and a reconstruction
of GPSG's Foot Feature Principle is presented which does not involve a notion
of default. Chapter 5 discusses coordination, employing an extension of Rounds- Kasper
logic to allow a treatment of cross -categorial coordination.In the third part, chapters 6, 7 and 8, we turn to semantic issues. We begin (Chapter 6)
with a discussion of Situation Theory, the background semantic theory, attempting to
establish a precise and coherent version of the theory within which to work. Chapter 7
presents the bulk of the treatment of semantics, and can be seen as an extensive revision
of the HPSG treatment of semantics. The aim is to provide a semantic treatment which
is faithful to the version of Situation Theory presented in Chapter 6. Chapter 8 deals
with quantification, discussing the nature of quantification in Situation Theory before
presenting a treatment of quantification in CPSG. Some residual questions about the
semantics of coordinated noun phrases are also addressed in this chapter.The final part, Chapter 9, concerns the actual computational implementation of the
theory. A parsing algorithm based on hierarchical classification is presented, along with
four strategies that might be adopted given that algorithm. Also discussed are some
implementation details. A concluding chapter summarises the arguments of the thesis
and outlines some avenues for future research
Conversion of a Russian dependency treebank into HPSG derivations
Proceedings of the Ninth International Workshop
on Treebanks and Linguistic Theories.
Editors: Markus Dickinson, Kaili Müürisep and Marco Passarotti.
NEALT Proceedings Series, Vol. 9 (2010), 7-18.
© 2010 The editors and contributors.
Published by
Northern European Association for Language
Technology (NEALT)
http://omilia.uio.no/nealt .
Electronically published at
Tartu University Library (Estonia)
http://hdl.handle.net/10062/15891
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