From Generative Linguistics to Categorial Grammars: Overt Subjects in Control Infinitives

The present thesis lies at the interface of logic and linguistics; its object of study are control sentences with overt pronouns in Romance languages (European and Brazilian Portuguese, Italian and Spanish). This is a topic that has received considerably more attention on the part of linguists, especially in recent years, than from logicians. Perhaps for this reason, much remains to be understood about these linguistic structures and their underlying logical properties. This thesis seeks to fill the lacunas in the literature or at least take steps in this direction by way of addressing a number of issues that have so far been under-explored. To this end, we put forward two key questions, one linguistic and the other logical. These are, respectively, (1) What is the syntactic status of the surface pronoun? and (2) What are the available mechanisms to reuse semantic resources in a contraction-free logical grammar? Accordingly, the thesis is divided into two parts: generative linguistics and categorial grammar. Part I starts by reviewing the recent discussion within the generative literature on infinitive clauses with overt subjects, paying detailed attention to the main accounts in the field. Part II does the same on the logical grammar front, addressing in particular the issues of control and of anaphoric pronouns. Ultimately, the leading accounts from both camps will be found wanting. The closing chapter of each of Part I and Part II will thus put forward alternative candidates, that we contend are more successful than their predecessors. More specifically, in Part I, we offer a linguistic account along the lines of Landau’s T/Agr theory of control. In Part II, we present two alternative categorial accounts: one based on Combinatory Categorial Grammar, the other on Type-Logical Grammar. Each of these accounts offers an improved, more fine-grained perspective on control infinitives featuring overt pronominal subjects. Finally, we include an Appendix in which our type-logical proposal is implemented in a categorial parser/theorem-prover.Abstract prepared by María Inés Corbalán.E-mail: [email protected]: http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/331697

Serial verb constructions and covert coordinations in Edo – an analysis in Type Logical Grammar

Based on both syntactic and semantic criteria, Stewart (2001) and, following him, Baker and Stewart (1999), distinguish two types of serial verb constructions (SVC) and one type of covert coordination (CC) in Edo. In this article, we present an analysis of these constructions, using Type Logical Grammar (TLG) with an event-based semantic component. We choose as base logic the non-associative Lambek calculus augmented with two unary multiplicative connectives (NL(◊, □)). SVCs and CCs are interpreted as complex event structures. The complex predicates underlying these structures are derived from simple verbs by means of a constructor. SVCs and CCs differ in terms of which part of the complex event structure is denoted. For SVCs, this is the sum of all events in the structure whereas for a CC this is only the first event in the sequence. The two verbs in an SVC and a CC are treated asymmetrically by assuming that the first verb has an extended subcategorization frame. The additional argument is of type vp (possibly modally decorated). Constraints on word order and the realization of arguments are accounted for using structural rules like permutation and contraction. The application of these rules is enforced by making use of the unary connectives.

Computational Coverage of TLG: Nonlinearity

We study nonlinear connectives (exponentials) in the context of Type Logical Grammar(TLG). We devise four conservative extensions of theDisplacement calculus with brackets, \DbC, \DbCM, \DbCb and \DbCbMr which contain the universal and existential exponential modalities of linear logic (\LL). These modalitiesdo not exhibit the same structural properties as in \LL, which in TLG are especially adapted for linguistic purposes. The universal modality \univexpfor TLG allows only the commutative and contraction rules, but not weakening, whereas the existential modality \exstexp allows the so-called (intuitionistic) mingle rule, whichderives a restricted version of weakening called \emph{expansion}. We provide a Curry-Howard labelling for both exponential connectives. As it turns out,controlled contraction by \univexp gives a way to account for the so-called parasitic gaps, and controlled Mingle \exstexp iterability, in particular iteratedcoordination. Finally, the four calculi are proved to be Cut-Free but decidability is only proved for $\DbCb$, whereasfor the rest the question of decidability remains open.

The Project of a Pure Logical Grammar

This chapter examines Edmund Husserl's philosophical reflections on pure logical grammar. When we talk about the meaning and genealogy of the notion of a “philosophical grammar,” the fourth of Husserl's Logical Investigations comes to mind. The central idea of the fourth Investigation is that all formal logic in the current sense— that is, the logic of validity—presupposes a logic of meaning that prevents non-sense and that is not concerned with objective validity, but instead only with the a priori laws that establish the conditions for the unity of meaning. In the first Investigation, Husserl proposes to establish the juncture between pure logic and language. The chapter suggests that the theme of the fourth Investigation is not the edification of a universal grammar, but rather of a pure grammar capable of serving as a foundation for logic.