Modular Design of Grammar

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Modular Design ◽  
Modular Architecture ◽  
Lexical Functional Grammar ◽  
Linguistic System ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Multiple Question ◽  
Linguistic Structures

Modular design of grammar: Linguistics on the edge presents the cutting edge of research on linguistic modules and interfaces in Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG). LFG has a highly modular design that models the linguistic system as a set of discreet submodules that include, among others, constituent structure, functional structure, argument structure, semantic structure, and prosodic structure, with each module having its coherent properties and being related to each other by correspondence functions. Following a detailed introduction, Part I scrutinises the nature of linguistic structures, interfaces and representations in LFG’s architecture and ontology. Parts II and III are concerned with problems, analyses and generalisations associated with linguistic phenomena which are of long-standing theoretical significance, including agreement, reciprocals, possessives, reflexives, raising, subjecthood, and relativisation, demonstrating how these phenomena can be naturally accounted for within LFG’s modular architecture. Part IV explores issues of the synchronic and diachronic dynamics of syntactic categories in grammar, such as unlike category coordination, fuzzy categorial edges, and consequences of decategorialization, providing explicit LFG solutions to such problems including those which result from language change in progress. The final part re-examines and refines the precise representations and interfaces of syntax with morphology, semantics and pragmatics to account for challenging facts such as suspended affixation, prosody in multiple question word interrogatives and information structure, anaphoric dependencies, and idioms.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Ronald M. Kaplan ◽  
Joan Bresnan
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Modular Design ◽  
Cutting Edge ◽  
Functional Structure ◽  
Semantic Structure ◽  
Prosodic Structure ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Constituent Structure ◽  
Lexical Functional Grammar ◽  
Linguistic System

Modular design of grammar: Linguistics on the edge presents the cutting edge of research on linguistic modules and interfaces in Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG). LFG has a highly modular design that models the linguistic system as a set of discreet submodules that include, among others, constituent structure, functional structure, argument structure, semantic structure, and prosodic structure, with each module having its coherent properties and being related to each other by correspondence functions. The contributions in this volume represent the broad range and interconnection of theoretical, formal, and descriptive considerations that continues to be the hallmark of LFG.

The Oxford Reference Guide to Lexical Functional Grammar

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Dalrymple ◽  
John J. Lowe ◽  
Louise Mycock
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Structure Information ◽  
Lexical Functional Grammar

This is the most comprehensive reference work on Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG), which will be of interest to graduate and advanced undergraduate students, academics, and researchers in linguistics and in related fields. Covering the analysis of syntax, semantics, morphology, prosody, and information structure, and how these aspects of linguistic structure interact in the nontransformational framework of LFG, this book will appeal to readers working in a variety of sub-fields, including researchers involved in the description and documentation of languages, whose work continues to be an important part of the LFG literature The book consists of three parts. The first part examines the syntactic theory and formal architecture of LFG, with detailed explanation and comprehensive illustration, providing an unparalleled introduction to the fundamentals of the theory. The second part of the book explores nonsyntactic levels of linguistic structure, including the syntax-semantics interface and semantic representation, argument structure, information structure, prosodic structure, and morphological structure, and how these are related in the projection architecture of LFG. The third part of the book illustrates the theory more explicitly by presenting explorations of the syntax and semantics of a range of representative linguistic phenomena: modification, anaphora, control, coordination, and long-distance dependencies. The final chapter discusses LFG-based work not covered elsewhere in the book, as well as new developments in the theory.

DSM-Based Product Representation for Retirement Process-Based Modularity

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoxia Lai ◽  
John K. Gershenson
Keyword(s):  
Product Design ◽  
Modular Design ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Design Methods ◽  
Process Efficiency ◽  
Modular Architecture ◽  
Product Representation ◽  
Modular Product ◽  
Product Modularity

Researchers have expanded the definition of product modularity from function-based modularity to life-cycle process-based modularity. In parallel, measures of product modularity have been developed as well as corresponding modular product design methods. However, a correct modularity measure and modular design method are not enough to realize modular product design. To apply the measure and design method correctly, product representation becomes an important aspect of modular design and imperative for realizing the promised cost savings of modularity. In this paper, a representation for retirement process-based modular design has been developed. Built upon previous representations for assembly and manufacturing-based product design, the representation includes a process similarity matrix and a process dependency matrix. The retirement process-based similarity is based on the similarity in components’ post-life intents (recycling, reuse, disposal), and either the degree of their material compatibility if the components will be recycled, or their disassembly direction or disassembly tools if they need to be disassembled from each other for retirement. Process similarity within a module leads to increased process efficiency (the elimination of non-value added tasks) from the sharing of tooling/equipment. Retirement process-based dependency is developed based on disassembly difficulty, one aspect of the physical interactions between components. Retiring components together as a module to eliminate disassembly and differential processing and reducing the disassembly difficulty between the modules can increase the efficiency of the retirement process. We have first presented which process elements we should consider for defining retirement process similarity and dependency, and then constructed the respective similarity and dependency factors tables. These tables include similarity and dependency factors, which, along with their quantifications, are used to determine a product’s modular architecture to facilitate the retirement process. Finally, a fishing reel is used to illustrate how to apply these factors tables to generate the similarity and dependency matrices that represent a product for retirement-process based modular design. Using these representations as input to the DSM-based modular design methods, we can achieve a design with a modular architecture that improves the retirement process efficiency and reduces retirement costs.

Some properties of texts in terms of ‘information distribution’ across languages

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erich Steiner
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Information Distribution ◽  
Intuitive Notion ◽  
Micro Level

On a global level, an attempt will be made to relate relatively macro-level intuitions about properties of texts to more micro-level notions and to empirically testable lexicogrammatical properties. The strategy will be to (a) partly reduce an intuitive notion of ‘information distribution’ in texts and sentences to more technical and better understood notions of ‘information structure’, ‘informational density’ and ‘grammatical metaphoricity’, and (b) operationalize these latter notions in such a way as to make them empirically testable on electronic corpora, using the ‘shallow’ concepts of ‘explicitness, density, and directness’ as properties of semantics-to-grammar mapping in sentences. It will furthermore be suggested that aspects of intuitive qualities of texts, such as ‘content orientation’ vs. ‘interactant orientation’ and others can be partly modelled in terms of (a) and (b). The argumentation in this paper thus proceeds from intuitive text-level notions to more technical and clause-based concepts, and from these concepts to operationalizations. It then moves ‘upwards’ again to text-level properties, exploring the relationships between the two levels. Finally, an outline is attempted of some implications for studies of language contact and language change.

Language Change, Variation, and Universals

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter W. Culicover
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Conceptual Structure ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Plains Cree ◽  
Theoretical Foundations ◽  
Parameter Theory ◽  
Grammatical Functions ◽  
The Way

This volume is about how human languages get to be the way they are, why they are different from one another in some ways and not others, and why they change in the ways that they do. Given that language is a universal creation of the human mind, the puzzle is why there are different languages at all, why we don’t all speak the same language. And while there is considerable variation, there are ways in which grammars show consistent patterns. The solution to these puzzles, the author proposes, is a constructional one. Grammars consist of constructions that carry out the function of expressing universal conceptual structure. While there are in principle many different ways of accomplishing this task, the constructions that languages actually use are under pressure to reduce complexity. The result is that there is constructional change in the direction of less complexity, and grammatical patterns emerge that reflect conceptual universals. The volume consists of three parts. Part I establishes the theoretical foundations: situating universals in conceptual structure, formally defining constructions, and characterizing constructional complexity. Part II explores variation in argument structure, grammatical functions, and A′ constructions, drawing on data from a variety of languages, including English and Plains Cree. Part III looks at constructional change, focusing primarily on English and German. The study ends with some observations and speculations on parameter theory, analogy, the origins of typological patterns, and Greenbergian ‘universals’.

SMS Texting Practices and Communicative Intention

2010 ◽  
pp. 252-265
Author(s):  
Susana M. Sotillo
Keyword(s):  
Text Messaging ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Semantic Category ◽  
Text Messages ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Communicative Intention ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Predicate Argument Structure ◽  
Structural Simplification

This study focuses on the predicate-argument structure of frequently used lexical verbs in the text messages of members of five SMS social networks. Using a text analysis tool, lexical verbs were identified, coded for semantic category, and tagged for analysis in a corpus of 31, 288 words. Three research questions are addressed in relation to lexical verb usage, structural simplification, recovery of implied argument, and achievement of communicative intention via mobile telephony. The results reveal that (1) predicate-argument structures determined by certain lexical verbs become simplified in text messages; (2) particular ?-roles assigned to particular arguments become implicit but are easily recovered; and (3) text messaging language constitutes a variety of naturally occurring language. It is possible that such language variations in use may bring about language change over time.

scholarly journals A Dynamic Network Approach to the Study of Syntax

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Diessel
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Model Building ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Dynamic Network ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Network Approach ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Network Analyses

Usage-based linguists and psychologists have produced a large body of empirical results suggesting that linguistic structure is derived from language use. However, while researchers agree that these results characterize grammar as an emergent phenomenon, there is no consensus among usage-based scholars as to how the various results can be explained and integrated into an explicit theory or model. Building on network theory, the current paper outlines a structured network approach to the study of grammar in which the core concepts of syntax are analyzed by a set of relations that specify associations between different aspects of a speaker’s linguistic knowledge. These associations are shaped by domain-general processes that can give rise to new structures and meanings in language acquisition and language change. Combining research from linguistics and psychology, the paper proposes specific network analyses for the following phenomena: argument structure, word classes, constituent structure, constructions and construction families, and grammatical categories such as voice, case and number. The article builds on data and analyses presented in Diessel (2019; The Grammar Network. How Linguistic Structure is Shaped by Language Use) but approaches the topic from a different perspective.

Cognitive-functional principles and Chinese linear order

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-333
Author(s):  
Anna Morbiato
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Functional Studies ◽  
Functional Aspects ◽  
Standard Chinese ◽  
Cognitive Paradigms ◽  
Linguistic Structures ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract In Modern Standard Chinese, word order patterns and constructions are motivated by factors and restrictions connected to different levels of linguistic organization, including not only semantics and syntax, but also pragmatics, information-structure, and the conceptual domain. The functional and the cognitive paradigms have offered distinct but complementary perspectives capable of accounting for word order patterns and regularities related to either the topic-prominent nature of Chinese or the iconic dimension of its grammar. This article shows how cognitive and functional aspects are in fact tightly intertwined and display significant and not yet fully explored parallelisms. Specifically, it looks into the notions of ‘frame’, ‘scope’, and ‘part’, features shared by both functional accounts of topic-comment structures and conceptually motivated word order principles. It proposes a qualitative corpus analysis of such notions and shows that first, Chinese topics are better defined in terms of frames; second, a number of word order regularities can be accounted for with a single cognitive-functional schema, which I refer to as frame-part, or frame-participant, which is connected to the image schema of containment. This article hopes to contribute to bridging the gap between functional studies on information structure in Chinese and perspectives offered by the cognitive approach to linguistic structures, and to offer effective tools for Chinese as a second language acquisition.

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