Functional and anaphoric control

This chapter explores the syntax and semantics of functional and anaphoric control, constructions in which either syntactic or lexical constraints require coreference between an argument of the matrix clause (the controller) and an argument of a subordinate or modifying adjunct clause (the controllee). Such cases include the classes of “raising” verbs (Section 15.2) and “equi” verbs (Section 15.4). Crosslinguistically, descriptions of such constructions involve reference to functional syntactic relations such as subject and object; therefore, the syntactic discussion in this chapter is primarily centered around the f-structures of functional and anaphoric control constructions. A detailed semantic analyses of functional and anaphoric control constructions is also presented, considering arbitrary, obligatory, and quasi-obligatory (partial) control relations, and a discussion of the syntax and semantics of control in adjuncts (Section 15.8).

Related research threads and new directions

This final chapter provides brief discussion of some LFG work that has not been covered elsewhere in the book. One of the original aims of LFG was to produce a psychologically realistic linguistic theory, one that would not only account for observed patterns of linguistic behavior but would also provide insight into the mental representation of language. Section 18.1 discusses work on language processing and acquisition, including work which seeks to integrate LFG with Optimality Theory. A number of authors have explored diachronic linguistic developments from an LFG perspective, and have shown that such developments can be modeled and analyzed within the framework of LFG. Work on diachronic change within LFG is reviewed in Section 18.2. Finally, Section 18.3 focuses on computational issues, discussing work on parsing and generation within LFG, as well as computational implementations of LFG.

Information structure

This chapter considers how information is organized within an utterance, and in particular how syntax, semantics, and information structure interact. As with semantic information, early work in LFG represented certain aspects of information structure by means of f-structure attributes. The authors follow subsequent work in assuming a separate level of information structure or i-structure, related to other structures via correspondence functions. This chapter begins with a discussion of how the information conveyed by an utterance is structured to facilitate communication, before an exploration of the nature of the units that are relevant to the structuring of information. Subsequently, there is a review of some early LFG approaches to the representation of information structural features (Section 10.3), followed by an overview of the model of information structure that is adopted in the rest of this book (Section 10.4).

Meaning and semantic composition

This chapter explores the theory of the relation between syntax and meaning, examining how the meaning of an utterance is determined on the basis of its syntactic structure. The existence of a separate level of semantic structure or s-structure, related to the f-structure by a correspondence function is assumed. Some previous LFG approaches to semantics and the syntax-semantics interface are briefly reviewed before an introduction to the glue approach to semantic composition (Section 8.5). This approach, which is adopted in the rest of the book, provides a firm theoretical foundation for the discussions and analyses that are presented. The properties of thefragment of linear logic that are used in this book are introduced in Section 8.7. A detailed account of the semantics of quantification within the glue approach is provided in Section 8.8. The representation of semantic features is discussed in Section 8.9, and how to represent tense and aspect inSection 8.10.

Anaphora

This chapter presents LFG analyses for different types of anaphora. Section 14.1 discusses how incorporated pronominal elements behave differently from elements that alternate with agreement markers, and the ways in which these differ from morphologically independent pronouns. Anaphoric relations and binding patterns have been the subject of much research within the LFG framework; Section 14.2 discusses positive and negative constraints on anaphoric binding stated in terms of structural relations holding at f-structure, and Section 14.3 discusses prominence relations which hold between the anaphor and its potential antecedents stated at f-structure as well as other linguistic levels. A glue-theoretic treatment of the semantics of anaphoric binding is presented in Section 14.4, modeled using a version of Discourse Representation Theory. This semantic treatment will be drawn upon in subsequent chapters, particularly in the discussion of anaphoric control in Chapter 15.

Argument structure and mapping theory

This chapter explores argument structure and its relation to syntax, particularly concentrating on its role in determining the grammatical functions of the semantic arguments of a predicate. The chapter examines different views of the representation and content of argument structure, and outlines the theory of the relation between thematic roles and grammatical functions. The first five sections explore issues relating to the theory of argument structure, including grammatical function alternations (Section 9.3) and argument selection and classification (Sections 9.4 and 9.5). The next four sections focus on the analysis of some important phenomena: the active/passive alternation (Section 9.6), impersonal predication (Section 9.7), locative inversion (Section 9.8), and complex predicates (Section 9.9). Further issues relating to grammatical functions and argument structure, including gradient distinctions and optionality, are considered in Section 9.10.

Constituent structure

This chapter examines the organization of overt phrasal syntactic representation, the constituent structure or c-structure. Section 3.1 discusses some traditional arguments for constituent structure representation. Many of these arguments prove to be flawed, since the theory of phrase structure has a different status in LFG than in theories in which grammatical functions are defined configurationally and abstract syntactic (and other) relations are represented in phrase structure terms. Valid criteria within LFG for phrase structure determination are proposed in Section 3.2. The inventory of constituent structure categories, both lexical and functional, that are crosslinguistically available and the theory of the organization of words and categories into phrases are explored in Section 3.3. The general theory of constituent structure organization is exemplified in Section 3.4, where we provide more specific discussion of the constituent structure organization of clauses. Section 3.5 discusses the relation between hierarchical constituent structure and surface linear order.

Functional structure

Functional structure is the abstract functional syntactic organization of the sentence, familiar from traditional grammatical descriptions, representing syntactic predicate-argument structure and functional relations like subject and object. Section 2.1 presents motivation for the categories and information appearing in functional structure and outlines some common characteristics of functional structure categories. Section 2.2 demonstrates that grammatical functions are best treated as primitive concepts, as they are in LFG, rather than defined in terms of morphological or phrase structure concepts. Section 2.3 shows that syntactic subcategorization requirements, the array of syntactic arguments required by a predicate, are best stated in functional terms. The formal representation of functional structure (f-structure) and constraints on f-structure representations are discussed in Section 2.4. Finally, Section 2.5 provides an overview of the content and representation of f-structure features.

Long-distance dependencies

This chapter explores the analysis of constructions in which a constituent appears in a position other than the one with which its syntactic function is usually associated. Section 17.1 discusses the syntax of long-distance dependencies, including topicalization, left- or right-dislocation constructions, relative clauses, and constituent (“wh”) questions. Section 17.2 discusses constructions in which the displaced phrase is related not to a gap within the clause, but to a resumptive pronoun. Section 17.3 discusses how a long-distance dependency construction may be marked morphologically. Section 17.4 considers evidence for and against traces, with particular attention to the phenomenon of weak crossover. Section 17.5 examines multiple-gap constructions, including “across-the-board” extraction and parasitic gaps. The semantics of constructions involving long-distance dependencies are then considered: relative clauses are discussed in Section 17.6, and constituent (“wh”) questions in Section 17.7.

Syntactic relations and syntactic constraints

This chapter continues the discussion of the formal architecture of LFG and of ways to describe and constrain constituent structures and functional structures. The chapter introduces additional relations and constraints on structures, and discusses concepts fundamental to our formal theory, including regular expressions (Section 6.1); sets (Section 6.3); off-path constraints (Section 6.6); templates (Section 6.7); relations between f-structures such as f-command, subsumption, and restriction (Section 6.9); c-structure/f-structure constraints including empty nod rules (Section 6.10); and precedence relations (Section 6.11). For most readers, this chapter best serves as a reference to be consulted for definition and discussion of concepts and relations that are used in the analyses presented in the remainder of the book.