A Linear Logic Treatment of Phrase Structure Grammars For Unbounded Dependencies

Author(s):  
Joshua S. Hodas
2004 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEAN-PIERRE KOENIG

For better or worse, linguistics is rife with frameworks, each with its own ethos. Two important aspects of Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar's are: (1) the search for an explicit and exhaustive account of the intricate syntactic and semantic facts that constitute one's grammar and (2) the hypothesis that general/universal and specific aspects of one's grammar are not qualitatively distinct. This book stands as a superb example of this ethos. It illustrates the fecundity of Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (henceforth, HPSG) as a framework and advances our knowledge of the syntax and semantics of interrogatives. It is the most explicit description of the semantics and syntax of any area of English syntax of which this reviewer is aware. It thus sets up a healthy empirical benchmark for other theories of interrogatives. The sixty pages of appendices that detail the grammar discussed in the book and its almost complete implementation in the current version of the English Resource Grammar attest to this empirical bent. Any future theory will have to match it in accuracy before any metatheoretical issues (e.g. simplicity or explanatory adequacy) can be meaningfully discussed. Its precision and comprehensiveness will also, hopefully, lead to descriptions of unbounded dependencies and clause-types in other languages that are orders of magnitude more detailed than those currently available. Ginzburg & Sag's (G&S's) book also illustrates how possibly universal principles (such as the requirement that head-daughters and mothers of a local tree share information) and construction-specific requirements (such as the fact that the scope of


1994 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Blevins

This paper proposes that unbounded dependency constructions in English instantiate a surface subject-predicate structure in which the predicate is typically discontinuous. Evidence is presented supporting this discontinuous analysis over the operatorvariable structure conventionally assigned to unbounded dependencies. A model of phrase structure that sanctions discontinuous representations is outlined, along with a feature-based strategy for generating the proposed structures within an extended phrase structure system. Extraction islands and other locality constraints are subsequently characterized with reference to the feature propagation paths that induce discontinuity.


Author(s):  
Lieven Danckaert

This chapter addresses the question of which syntactic environment constitutes the most reliable source of information on variable object placement in Latin. The relevance of this question is illustrated by showing that very different results are obtained when one compares the rate of VO in two different syntactic contexts, namely clauses with a single synthetic verb and clauses with a modal verb and a dependent infinitive. It is argued that the OV/VO alternation is best studied to clauses with more than one verb, as in such clauses, more object positions can be unambiguously identified. The final part of the chapter is devoted to the phrase structure analysis of clauses with the modals possum ‘be able’ and debeo ‘have to’. These structures are argued to constitute monoclausal domains, in which the modals are raising predicates that originate in functional heads in the extended projection of lexical verbs.


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