Meaning in LFG

2021 ◽  
pp. 340-374
Author(s):  
Jamie Y. Findlay
Keyword(s):  
Functional Annotation ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Linear Logic ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Description Language ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Modern Approach ◽  
Lexical Functional Grammar ◽  
Semantic Component ◽  
Glue Semantics

This chapter discusses how meaning has been handled in Lexical-Functional Grammar. As well as giving a historical overview, it also argues that the modern approach, using Glue Semantics, has a number of undesirable properties: meanings do not figure at all in the architecture of the grammar, merely standing in an unspecified correspondence with semantic structures; s-structures themselves have become an enfeebled and unimportant part of the projection architecture; and meaning constructors, when written in the ‘new glue’ format, give the impression of being quite distinct from other kinds of functional annotation, making the semantic component seem out of sync with the rest of the formalism. To remedy these issues, Findlay suggests a mechanism for representing meanings explicitly in s-structures, and for integrating linear logic into the description language of LFG more generally. This has immediate benefits for the analysis of idioms and for the theory of the semantics-information structure interface.

Glue semantics for HPSG

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ash Asudeh ◽  
Richard Crouch
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Semantic Interpretation ◽  
Alternative Form ◽  
Quantifier Scope ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Scope Ambiguity ◽  
Lexical Functional Grammar ◽  
Highly Efficient ◽  
Glue Semantics ◽  
Syntactic Theories

‎The glue approach to semantic interpretation has been developed principally for Lexical Functional Grammar. Recent work has shown how glue can be used with a variety of syntactic theories and this paper outlines how it can be applied to HPSG. As well as providing an alternative form of semantics for HPSG, we believe that the benefits of HPSG glue include the following: (1) simplification of the Semantics Principle; (2) a simple and elegant treatment of modifier scope, including empirical phenomena like quantifier scope ambiguity, the interaction of scope with raising, and recursive modification; (3) an analysis of control that handles agreement between controlled subjects and their coarguments while allowing for a property denotation for the controlled clause; (4) re-use of highly efficient techniques for semantic derivation already implemented for LFG, and which target problems of ambiguity management also addressed by Minimal Recursion Semantics. 

scholarly journals Information structuring in Akan question-word fronting and focus constructions

2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-208
Author(s):  
Charles Marfo ◽  
Adams Bodomo
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Functional Structure ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Lexical Functional Grammar ◽  
The Individual

Wh-question fronting and focus constructions in Akan have three structural characteristics in common: constituent fronting, introduction of a clitic morpheme after the fronted constituent, and pronoun resumption in a canonical clause position. In comparing these constructions to each other and to related canonical constructions, one is confronted with the question whether the same discourse-contextual information is consistently expressed in both constructions. Using the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar, we show that both whquestion fronting and focus constructions share representations in the constituent and functional structure. Considering the individual discourse-contextual information expressed in wh-question fronting and focus constructions, as compared to the discourse-contextual information expressed in the respective in situ and canonical clause counterparts, however, we show that a variance is drawn between them in the information structure. In a further constraint-based analysis, Optimality-Theoretic LFG is used to clarify the proposals made.

scholarly journals Locative Inversion as an Alternation Phenomenon in Setswana: The Case of Lexical Functional Grammar Theory

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Setumile Morapedi
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Structure Approach ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Lexical Functional Grammar ◽  
New Information ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Locative Inversion

The paper has examined locative inversion constructions in Setswana, showing that the pre-posed locative phrase in these constructions is not the subject as it is viewed by other linguists in the literature. It has been argued, in this paper, that locative phrase occurs in the sentence initial position to perform the topic function which sets the scene for the focused noun phrase that alternates with it (locative phrase). The analysis has been achieved through information structure approach, showing the locative phrase that occurs in sentence initial position is a discourse phenomenon showing given information, and that the focused post-verbal noun phrase is new information that is emphasised on. Also, an appeal is made to Lexical Functional Grammar Approach to explain different ways of representing syntactic structures such as constituent structure and the functional structure.

Control and semantic resource sensitivity

2005 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 465-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
ASH ASUDEH
Keyword(s):  
Control Analysis ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Partial Control ◽  
Lexical Functional Grammar ◽  
Control Target ◽  
Resource Sensitivity ◽  
Resource Deficit ◽  
Glue Semantics ◽  
And Control

This paper examines tensions between the syntax of control and semantic resource sensitivity. Structure sharing of controller and control target leads to apparent RESOURCE DEFICIT under certain circumstances. An analysis is presented using Glue Semantics for Lexical Functional Grammar. It demonstrates that structure sharing and resource sensitivity can be reconciled without giving up or relaxing either notion. It is shown that the analysis can handle either property or propositional denotations for controlled complements. The analysis is extended to finite controlled complements, which raise the opposing problem of RESOURCE SURPLUS. A solution is proposed and its typological implications discussed. The syntax and semantics of control as structure sharing is compared to a recent anaphoric control analysis by Dalrymple (2001). Based on facts of exhaustive and partial control, the present analysis is argued to be superior.

scholarly journals Implicit Arguments in English and Rutooro

2020 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bebwa Isingoma
Keyword(s):  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Lexical Functional Grammar ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Implicit Arguments ◽  
Syntactic Behavior ◽  
Glue Semantics ◽  
Analytical Tools ◽  
Point Of Departure

The present study is a contrastive analysis of the syntactic behavior of verbs that are ontologically specified for objects but these objects may be left out without rendering sentences ungrammatical. The study unveils asymmetries between English and Rutooro (a Bantu language spoken in Uganda) in the (non-)omissibility of postverbal arguments, stemming from lexico-semantic and morphological factors as well as syntactic and discoursal factors. In light of the asymmetries arising from syntactic and discoursal factors, the study adopts a typology of indefinite implicit arguments that categorizes them into two: general indefinite implicit arguments and discourse-bound indefinite implicit arguments. Denotational nuances between synonyms as well as morphological specifications are also crucial linguistic ingredients that trigger variability in the syntactic behavior of synonymous verbs intralinguistically and cross-linguistically. In order to formalize the syntactic behavior of the verbs involved, the study employs the analytical tools provided by Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG). While Asudeh/Giorgolio (2012) use a combination of LFG and Glue Semantics in order to account for the occurrence of implicit arguments, this study proposes an alternative approach, by using only the LFG functional specifications in the lexical entries of the verbs under consideration without having recourse to an auxiliary framework. Using Bresnan (1978) as a point of departure and informed by proposals advanced by Nordlinger/Sadler (2007), the study posits a non-ambiguous bistructural analysis, with the postverbal argument instantiating the specification ± higher structure – a feature that caters for the (non-)omissibility of the postverbal argument.

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.

Typological and theoretical implications

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. Lowe
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Lexical Functional Grammar ◽  
Mixed Categories

This chapter briefly considers the evidence for transitive nouns and adjectives in early Indo-Aryan in both a typological and a theoretical perspective. The fact that most transitive nouns and adjectives in early Indo-Aryan fall under the traditional heading of ‘agent nouns’ (subject-oriented formations) is typologically notable, since while action nouns with verbal government are well-known, the possibility of relatively verbal agent nouns has not always been acknowledged. The theoretical analysis is framed within Lexical-Functional Grammar, and makes use of the concept of ‘mixed’ categories to effect a clear formalization of transitive nouns and adjectives which captures their transitivity while allowing them to remain fundamentally nouns and adjectives in categorial terms.

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