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    Syntactic and Semantic Underspecification in the Verb Phrase.

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    This thesis is concerned with verbs and the relation between verbs and their complements. Syntactic evidence is presented which shows that the distinction between arguments and adjuncts reflects the optionality of adjuncts, but that adjuncts, once introduced, behave as arguments of the verb. An analysis is proposed which reflects this observation by assuming that verbal subcategorization is underspecified, so that optional constituents can be introduced into the verb phrase. The analysis is developed within a formal model of utterance interpretation. Labelled Deductive Systems for Natural Language (LDSNL), proposed in Kempson, Meyer-Viol & Gabbay (1999), which models the structural aspect of utterance interpretation as a dynamic process of tree growth during which lexical information is combined into more complex structures which provide vehicles for interpretation, propositional forms. The contribution of this thesis from the perspective of utterance interpretation is that it explores the notion of structural underspecification with respect to predicate-argument structure. After providing a formalization of underspecified verbal subcategorization, the thesis explores the consequences this analysis of verbs and verb phrases has for the process of tree growth, and how underspecified verbs are interpreted. The main argument developed is that verbs syntactically encode the possibilty for pragmatic enrichment; verbs address mental concepts only indirectly, so that the establishment of their eventual meaning, and, therefore, their eventual arity is mediated by the cognitive process of concept formation. Additional support for this view is provided by an analysis of applied verbs in Swahili which, from the perspective adopted here, can be seen to encode an explicit instruction for concept strengthening, an instruction to the hearer to derive additional inferential effects. The analysis presented in this thesis thus supports the view that natural language interpretation is a process in which structural properties and inferential activity are thoroughly intertwined

    Primitive computations in phrase construction

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    Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 71-73).The Minimalist Program in current linguistic theory seeks to explain linguistic structure in terms of economy principles, under the assumption that the human language faculty is a perfect system that performs only enough work to satisfy interface requirements. We consider processing costs as a property of syntactic computation and propose that these principles of economy may be met by the availability of alternative operations, each favorable in different circumstances. We characterize the basic Merge operation as a collection of three nested operations that apply to three corresponding levels of nested syntactic data types. In this framework, we provide an analysis of coordinate structure that uses a goal of minimizing processing cost to explain a number of peculiar characteristics of coordination, including the Coordination of Likes Constraint, the Coordinate Structure Constraint, and apparent case and agreement violations.by Chieu V. Nguyen.M.Eng

    Superseded: Grammatical theory: From transformational grammar to constraint-based approaches. Second revised and extended edition.

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    This book is superseded by the third edition, available at http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/255. This book introduces formal grammar theories that play a role in current linguistic theorizing (Phrase Structure Grammar, Transformational Grammar/Government & Binding, Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar, Lexical Functional Grammar, Categorial Grammar, Head-​Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Construction Grammar, Tree Adjoining Grammar). The key assumptions are explained and it is shown how the respective theory treats arguments and adjuncts, the active/passive alternation, local reorderings, verb placement, and fronting of constituents over long distances. The analyses are explained with German as the object language. The second part of the book compares these approaches with respect to their predictions regarding language acquisition and psycholinguistic plausibility. The nativism hypothesis, which assumes that humans posses genetically determined innate language-specific knowledge, is critically examined and alternative models of language acquisition are discussed. The second part then addresses controversial issues of current theory building such as the question of flat or binary branching structures being more appropriate, the question whether constructions should be treated on the phrasal or the lexical level, and the question whether abstract, non-visible entities should play a role in syntactic analyses. It is shown that the analyses suggested in the respective frameworks are often translatable into each other. The book closes with a chapter showing how properties common to all languages or to certain classes of languages can be captured. The book is a translation of the German book Grammatiktheorie, which was published by Stauffenburg in 2010. The following quotes are taken from reviews: With this critical yet fair reflection on various grammatical theories, MĂĽller fills what was a major gap in the literature. Karen Lehmann, Zeitschrift fĂĽr Rezen­sio­nen zur ger­man­is­tis­chen Sprach­wis­senschaft, 2012 Stefan MĂĽller’s recent introductory textbook, Gram­matik­the­o­rie, is an astonishingly comprehensive and insightful survey for beginning students of the present state of syntactic theory. Wolfgang Sternefeld und Frank Richter, Zeitschrift fĂĽr Sprach­wissen­schaft, 2012 This is the kind of work that has been sought after for a while [...] The impartial and objective discussion offered by the author is particularly refreshing. Werner Abraham, Germanistik, 2012   This book is a new edition of http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/25

    Grammatical theory: From transformational grammar to constraint-based approaches. Second revised and extended edition.

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    This book is superseded by the third edition, available at http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/255. This book introduces formal grammar theories that play a role in current linguistic theorizing (Phrase Structure Grammar, Transformational Grammar/Government & Binding, Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar, Lexical Functional Grammar, Categorial Grammar, Head-​Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Construction Grammar, Tree Adjoining Grammar). The key assumptions are explained and it is shown how the respective theory treats arguments and adjuncts, the active/passive alternation, local reorderings, verb placement, and fronting of constituents over long distances. The analyses are explained with German as the object language. The second part of the book compares these approaches with respect to their predictions regarding language acquisition and psycholinguistic plausibility. The nativism hypothesis, which assumes that humans posses genetically determined innate language-specific knowledge, is critically examined and alternative models of language acquisition are discussed. The second part then addresses controversial issues of current theory building such as the question of flat or binary branching structures being more appropriate, the question whether constructions should be treated on the phrasal or the lexical level, and the question whether abstract, non-visible entities should play a role in syntactic analyses. It is shown that the analyses suggested in the respective frameworks are often translatable into each other. The book closes with a chapter showing how properties common to all languages or to certain classes of languages can be captured. The book is a translation of the German book Grammatiktheorie, which was published by Stauffenburg in 2010. The following quotes are taken from reviews: With this critical yet fair reflection on various grammatical theories, MĂĽller fills what was a major gap in the literature. Karen Lehmann, Zeitschrift fĂĽr Rezen­sio­nen zur ger­man­is­tis­chen Sprach­wis­senschaft, 2012 Stefan MĂĽller’s recent introductory textbook, Gram­matik­the­o­rie, is an astonishingly comprehensive and insightful survey for beginning students of the present state of syntactic theory. Wolfgang Sternefeld und Frank Richter, Zeitschrift fĂĽr Sprach­wissen­schaft, 2012 This is the kind of work that has been sought after for a while [...] The impartial and objective discussion offered by the author is particularly refreshing. Werner Abraham, Germanistik, 2012   This book is a new edition of http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/25

    Superseded: Grammatical theory: From transformational grammar to constraint-based approaches. Second revised and extended edition.

    Get PDF
    This book is superseded by the third edition, available at http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/255. This book introduces formal grammar theories that play a role in current linguistic theorizing (Phrase Structure Grammar, Transformational Grammar/Government & Binding, Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar, Lexical Functional Grammar, Categorial Grammar, Head-​Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Construction Grammar, Tree Adjoining Grammar). The key assumptions are explained and it is shown how the respective theory treats arguments and adjuncts, the active/passive alternation, local reorderings, verb placement, and fronting of constituents over long distances. The analyses are explained with German as the object language. The second part of the book compares these approaches with respect to their predictions regarding language acquisition and psycholinguistic plausibility. The nativism hypothesis, which assumes that humans posses genetically determined innate language-specific knowledge, is critically examined and alternative models of language acquisition are discussed. The second part then addresses controversial issues of current theory building such as the question of flat or binary branching structures being more appropriate, the question whether constructions should be treated on the phrasal or the lexical level, and the question whether abstract, non-visible entities should play a role in syntactic analyses. It is shown that the analyses suggested in the respective frameworks are often translatable into each other. The book closes with a chapter showing how properties common to all languages or to certain classes of languages can be captured. The book is a translation of the German book Grammatiktheorie, which was published by Stauffenburg in 2010. The following quotes are taken from reviews: With this critical yet fair reflection on various grammatical theories, MĂĽller fills what was a major gap in the literature. Karen Lehmann, Zeitschrift fĂĽr Rezen­sio­nen zur ger­man­is­tis­chen Sprach­wis­senschaft, 2012 Stefan MĂĽller’s recent introductory textbook, Gram­matik­the­o­rie, is an astonishingly comprehensive and insightful survey for beginning students of the present state of syntactic theory. Wolfgang Sternefeld und Frank Richter, Zeitschrift fĂĽr Sprach­wissen­schaft, 2012 This is the kind of work that has been sought after for a while [...] The impartial and objective discussion offered by the author is particularly refreshing. Werner Abraham, Germanistik, 2012   This book is a new edition of http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/25

    Superseded: Grammatical theory: From transformational grammar to constraint-based approaches. Second revised and extended edition.

    Get PDF
    This book is superseded by the third edition, available at http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/255. This book introduces formal grammar theories that play a role in current linguistic theorizing (Phrase Structure Grammar, Transformational Grammar/Government & Binding, Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar, Lexical Functional Grammar, Categorial Grammar, Head-​Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Construction Grammar, Tree Adjoining Grammar). The key assumptions are explained and it is shown how the respective theory treats arguments and adjuncts, the active/passive alternation, local reorderings, verb placement, and fronting of constituents over long distances. The analyses are explained with German as the object language. The second part of the book compares these approaches with respect to their predictions regarding language acquisition and psycholinguistic plausibility. The nativism hypothesis, which assumes that humans posses genetically determined innate language-specific knowledge, is critically examined and alternative models of language acquisition are discussed. The second part then addresses controversial issues of current theory building such as the question of flat or binary branching structures being more appropriate, the question whether constructions should be treated on the phrasal or the lexical level, and the question whether abstract, non-visible entities should play a role in syntactic analyses. It is shown that the analyses suggested in the respective frameworks are often translatable into each other. The book closes with a chapter showing how properties common to all languages or to certain classes of languages can be captured. The book is a translation of the German book Grammatiktheorie, which was published by Stauffenburg in 2010. The following quotes are taken from reviews: With this critical yet fair reflection on various grammatical theories, MĂĽller fills what was a major gap in the literature. Karen Lehmann, Zeitschrift fĂĽr Rezen­sio­nen zur ger­man­is­tis­chen Sprach­wis­senschaft, 2012 Stefan MĂĽller’s recent introductory textbook, Gram­matik­the­o­rie, is an astonishingly comprehensive and insightful survey for beginning students of the present state of syntactic theory. Wolfgang Sternefeld und Frank Richter, Zeitschrift fĂĽr Sprach­wissen­schaft, 2012 This is the kind of work that has been sought after for a while [...] The impartial and objective discussion offered by the author is particularly refreshing. Werner Abraham, Germanistik, 2012   This book is a new edition of http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/25

    Syntax inside the grammar

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    This volume collects novel contributions to comparative generative linguistics that “rethink” existing approaches to an extensive range of phenomena, domains, and architectural questions in linguistic theory. At the heart of the contributions is the tension between descriptive and explanatory adequacy which has long animated generative linguistics and which continues to grow thanks to the increasing amount and diversity of data available to us. The chapters address research questions on the relation of syntax to other aspects of grammar and linguistics more generally, including studies on language acquisition, variation and change, and syntactic interfaces. Many of these contributions show the influence of research by Ian Roberts and collaborators and give the reader a sense of the lively nature of current discussion of topics in synchronic and diachronic comparative syntax ranging from the core verbal domain to higher, propositional domains
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