A parser system for extensible dependency grammar

This paper introduces a parser system for the meta grammar formalism of Extensible Dependency Grammar (XDG). XDG is a generalisation of Topological Dependency Grammar (TDG) (Duchier-Debusmann01). The XDG parser system comprises a constraint-based parser for all possible instances of XDG, a statically typed grammar input language, and a flexible backend for handling parser output. A powerful graphical user interface provides for easy accessibility of all the functionality of the system. In the future, we will use the XDG parser system to accomodate new dependency grammar formalisms such as Semantic Topological Dependency Grammar (STDG), and to experiment with other interesting XDG instances

Dependency grammar as graph description

The paper introduces a generalisation of the grammar formalism of Topological Dependency Grammar (TDG) (Duchier and Debusmann 2001). The result, eXtensible Dependency Grammar (XDG), is a description language for sets of labeled directed graphs. Lexicalisation turns XDG into a powerful dependency-based meta grammar formalism. As an instance of XTDG, we present Semantic Topological Dependency Grammar (STDG), a new dependency-based grammar formalism with a syntax-semantics interface to underspecified semantics

Multi-dimensional dependency grammar as multigraph description

Extensible Dependency Grammar (XDG) is new, modular grammar formalism for natural language. An XDG analysis is a multi-dimensional dependency graph, where each dimension represents a different aspect of natural language, e.g. syntactic function, predicate-argument structure, information structure etc. Thus, XDG brings together two recent trends in computational linguistics: the increased application of ideas from dependency grammar and the idea of multi-layered linguistic description. In this paper, we tackle one of the stumbling blocks of XDG so far - its incomplete formalization. We present the first complete formalization of XDG, as a description language for multigraphs based on simply typed lambda calculus

A parser system for extensible dependency grammar

This paper introduces a parser system for the meta grammar formalism of Extensible Dependency Grammar (XDG). XDG is a generalisation of Topological Dependency Grammar (TDG) (Duchier-Debusmann01). The XDG parser system comprises a constraint-based parser for all possible instances of XDG, a statically typed grammar input language, and a flexible backend for handling parser output. A powerful graphical user interface provides for easy accessibility of all the functionality of the system. In the future, we will use the XDG parser system to accomodate new dependency grammar formalisms such as Semantic Topological Dependency Grammar (STDG), and to experiment with other interesting XDG instances

Extensible Dependency Grammar: a modular grammar formalism based on multigraph description

This thesis develops Extensible Dependency Grammar (XDG), a new grammar formalism combining dependency grammar, model-theoretic syntax, and Jackendoff\u27;s parallel grammar architecture. The design of XDG is strongly geared towards modularity: grammars can be modularly extended by any linguistic aspect such as grammatical functions, word order, predicate-argument structure, scope, information structure and prosody, where each aspect is modeled largely independently on a separate dimension. The intersective demands of the dimensions make many complex linguistic phenomena such as extraction in syntax, scope ambiguities in the semantics, and control and raising in the syntax-semantics interface simply fall out as by-products without further stipulation. This thesis makes three main contributions: 1. The first formalization of XDG as a multigraph description language in higher order logic, and investigations of its expressivity and computational complexity. 2. The first implementation of XDG, the XDG Development Kit (XDK), an extensive grammar development environment built around a constraint parser for XDG. 3. The first application of XDG to natural language, modularly modeling a fragment of English

A meta-grammatical framework for dependency grammar

We propose a meta-grammatical framework for dependency grammar, accommodating any number of dimensions and restricting their licensed models through the application of parametric principles. We first instantiate this framework to obtain the version of Topological Dependency Grammar (TDG) proposed by Duchier and Debusmann 2001. We then describe an extended instantiation which adds support for semantic dependencies (thus also providing an account of control and raising constructions) and meaning assembly

Linking syntactic and semantic arguments in a dependency-based formalism

We propose a formal characterization of variation in the syntactic realization of semantic arguments, using hierarchies of syntactic relations and thematic roles, and a mechanism of lexical inheritance to obtain emph{valency frames} from individual emph{linking types}. We embed the formalization in the new lexicalized, dependency-based grammar formalism of Topological Dependency Grammar (TDG) cite{rade-acl2001}. We account for arguments that can be alternatively realized as a NP or a PP, and model thematic role alternations. We also treat auxiliary constructions, where the correspondance between syntactic and semantic argumenthood is indirect

A meta-grammatical framework for dependency grammar

We propose a meta-grammatical framework for dependency grammar, accommodating any number of dimensions and restricting their licensed models through the application of parametric principles. We first instantiate this framework to obtain the version of Topological Dependency Grammar (TDG) proposed by Duchier and Debusmann 2001. We then describe an extended instantiation which adds support for semantic dependencies (thus also providing an account of control and raising constructions) and meaning assembly