Left-corner parsing of minimalist grammars

Much recent research in experimental psycholinguistics revolves around the resolution of long-distance dependencies, and the manner in which the human sentence processor “retrieves’” elements from earlier in a sentence that must be related in some way to the material currently being processed. At present there is no obvious way for the issues raised by this research to be framed in terms of an MG parser. Stabler’s 2013 top-down MG parser does not involve any corresponding notion of “retrieval’”: it requires that a phrase’s position in the derivation tree be completely identified before the phrase can be scanned, which means that a filler cannot be scanned without committing to a particular location for its corresponding gap. This chapter attempts to develop a parsing algorithm that is inspired by Stabler, but which allows a sentence-initial filler to be scanned immediately while delaying the choice of corresponding gap position.

Minimalist parsing

Studies of parsing inspired by the Minimalist Program have various goals. They flesh out and unify proposals in syntax; they define properties of fundamental structure-building mechanisms; and they provide mechanisms for psycholinguistic models. In this brief overview, some historical antecedents are noted, and then foundational perspectives underpinning some recent work in this tradition are outlined, with associated basic results on locality and efficiency. Finally, a comparative guide to some notational differences is presented.

Grammatical predictors for fMRI time-courses

This study examines several different time-series formalizations of sentence-processing effort, as regards their ability to predict the observed fMRI time-course in regions of the brain. These regressors formalize cognitive theories of language processing involving phrase structure parsing, memory burden, lexical meaning, and other factors such as word sequence probabilities. The results suggest that even in the presence of these covariates, a predictor based on minimalist grammars significantly improves a regression model of the BOLD signal in a posterior temporal region, roughly corresponding to Wernicke’s area.

Combining linguistic theories in a Minimalist Machine

This chapter describes a Minimalist Machine that utilizes Chomsky’s (2001) bottom-up phase-based system to automatically construct detailed derivations of examples from important work in the Minimalist Program. We have successfully modeled expletive constructions and multiple agreement, thematization/extraction, that-trace effects and subject vs. object wh-movement, and relative clauses. We present particular modifications necessary to combine the linguistic theories that account for these target constructions into a single unified theory. We demonstrate how a computer model is ideal for incorporating core elements of a variety of theories into a single unified model that we can verify produces all target constructions. This is an important and necessary step towards making the Minimalist Machine viable because there is no guarantee that theories in the same framework are compatible, since they might rely on contradictory assumptions.

Towards a Minimalist Machine

This chapter describes a machine that efficiently generates syntactic structure using fundamental Set and Pair Merge operations beginning with a pre-ordered Lexical Array (LA) of heads. The machine also implements Probe-Goal agreement and Phase theory to correctly converge on a variety of syntactic constructions discussed in the linguistics literature. Displacement is driven by Edge features. The machine state consists of a current syntactic object (SO) and the input (LA). It also incorporates a goal stack that effectively short-circuits the need to search inside the current SO. The machine is capable of locally deciding on the appropriate Merge and Probe operations at each Merge step by considering the Label and features of the current SO and the LA head, without the need for (temporary) over-generation or lookahead. Non-determinism, i.e. multiple convergent SOs, is also possible in cases where theory demands it

Parsing ellipsis efficiently

This chapter shows how a transformational account of ellipsis allows for a sound and complete parsing algorithm which allows for the efficient processing of discourses containing elliptical sentences. In the context of this implementation, two approaches to ellipsis in the transformational community are naturally seen as equivalent descriptions at different levels: the LF-copying approach to ellipsis resolution is best seen as a description of the parser, whereas the phonological deletion approach is a description of the underlying relation between form and meaning. The parsing algorithm result described in this chapter relies not just on formal properties of the grammar formalism (formal universals) but also, crucially, on linguistic assumptions (substantive universals).

Parsing with Minimalist Grammars and prosodic trees

Advances in the syntactic parsing of written language have proceeded apace in the last few decades, but much less progress has been made in the syntactic parsing of spoken language. Here, we address one question important for such progress: how can we bring prosody in to inform syntactic parsing of spoken language? We identify and take on two key challenges: (i) explicitly defining aspects of the syntax–prosody interface, including prosodic trees, and (ii) modeling distinct contributions of syntax to conditioning prosodic events, including aspects other than relations between syntactic and prosodic domain edges, such as prosodic reflexes of spell-out. We demonstrate a proof-of-concept implementation of simultaneous (post-)syntactic and prosodic parsing of a Samoan utterance, with syntactic parsing informed by prosody, and prosodic parsing informed by syntax.