Learning what the crowd can do: A case study on focus annotation

This paper addresses the question of how to explore and advance the conceptualization and applicability of information structural notions to support the analysis of authentic data. With this we aim at further establishing where advances in linguistic modeling also result in quantifiable gains in real-life tasks. Can, for example, computational linguistic applications be improved by integrating information structural notions? One of the necessary prerequisites for answering this question are large enough sets of data which are annotated with the relevant information structural concepts. The main problem here is that notions like focus are often discussed in theoretic literature by means of example sentences but rarely analyzed in substantial amounts of authentic data

On the Extractability from Subjects in German - An example for lexicalized constraints on UDCs

this paper we want to show how one can account for these cases without having to postulate subject-object asymmetries for extractio

Splitting PP arguments from NPs -- An argument raising approach and its interaction with lexical semantics

Constructions in which PP arguments occur separate from their nominal heads have been argued to involve extraction from noun phrases. In this paper we provide evidence against the assumption that these PPs have been extracted. Instead, we argue that an analysis allowing argument raising of PP complements from nominal heads is more appropriate and that it makes additional correct predictions regarding possible word orders. Furthermore we show that restrictions on the construction can be explained on the basis of lexical semantic properties of the involved elements. Finally, an HPSG theory capturing the syntactic and lexical semantic properties on the basis of lexical principles is provided

Linearization versus Movement: Evidence from German Pied-Piped Infinitives

this paper we want to contribute to this discussion by taking a look at a phenomenon in German: the `pied-piping' of infinitives in relative clauses. This construction is an interesting test case since the question whether the construction should be licensed by movement or a linearization-like mechanism is a much discussed topic in the GB literature. Riemsdijk (1985) and Trissler (1991) argue for a movement account of the pied-piping construc

1.1 The empirical issue

with examples in which partial constituents have been fronted, leaving behind one or more arguments: 1 (1) a. [Verkaufen] sell will er das Pferd. wants-to he the horse ‘He wants sell the horse.’ b. [Stolz] ist er auf proud is he of c. [Ein a seine his ‘He was proud of his children.’ Buch] book Kinder gewesen. children been hat Hans über Syntax ausgeliehen. has Hans on syntax borrowed ‘Hans borrowed a book on syntax.’ In (1a), the transitive verb verkaufen has been fronted, leaving its complement, the NP das Pferd, behind. In (1b), the AP stolz is topicalized without its PP argument auf seine Kinder. And in (1c), the NP ein Buch has been fronted, leaving its PP complement über Syntax behind. In De Kuthy and Meurers (1998, 1999b) we showed that such cases of partial constituent fronting can successfully be analyzed by generalizing the argument-raising approach to partial VP fronting proposed i