Proceedings of the International Conference on Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar
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An HPSG analysis of Persian relative clauses
Get PDFRelative clauses (RCs) in Persian are head-modifying constituents, all
typically introduced by the invariant complementizer ke. Persian RCs are
Unbounded Dependency Constructions (UDCs), containing either a gap or a
resumptive pronoun (RP). In some positions only gaps are allowed, and in other
positions only RPs. There are also some positions where both gaps and RPs are
alternatively allowed. Illustrating the striking similarities between Persian
gaps and RPs, I will provide an HPSG unified approach to take care of the
dependency between the licensing structure and the gap/RP with a single
mechanism, using only the SLASH feature. Similar to Pollard and Sag s (1994)
approach to the bottom of the dependency, I will assume a special sign at the
bottom. However, my sign may have a nonempty PHON value. I will introduce a
feature called GAPTYPE which is a NONLOCAL feature whose value can be either
trace or rp. I will introduce two constraints to capture the pattern of
distribution of RPs and traces. At the top of the dependency, I will bind the
nonempty SLASH at the complementizer point. I will propose a lexical entry for
the complementizer ke that will account for the binding of SLASH by the feature
BIND, which has a nonempty set as value
The syntax of French N phrases
Get PDFOf all French functional elements, the form de has without question the widest
variety of uses, and presents the greatest challenge for linguistic description
and analysis. Historically a preposition, it still has a number of
prepositional uses in modern French, but in many contexts it calls for an
altogether different treatment. We begin by outlining a general distinction
between oblique and non-oblique uses of de. We then develop a detailed
account of constructions where de combines with an N\u27. We provide a unitary
analysis of de in three constructions (quantifier extraction, "quantification
at a distance", and negative contexts) which have been not been considered to be
related in previous accounts
Coordinate ellipsis and apparent non-constituent coordination
Get PDFWithin the tradition of Categorial Grammar, so-called
ˋnon-constituent\u27 coordination (ˋargument cluster\u27 coordination and
ˋright node raising\u27) has been analyzed in terms of the coordination
of nonstandard constituents produced by the operations of type
raising and composition. This highly successful research has
expanded the domain of data that modern analyses of coordination
must take into account. Recent HPSG work by Yatabe (2002) and
Crysmann (2003) provides an interesting alternative approach to
this problem in terms of the coordination of familiar, but
ˋelliptical\u27 constituents. We argue that this approach is
empirically superior to the Categorial Grammar analysis, both in
terms of empirical coverage and cross-linguistic predictions. We
reassess the relevant English data in small but important ways, and
develop our own ellipsis analysis, building on Yatabe\u27s and
Crysmann\u27s insights
A typology of negation in a constraint-based framework of syntax and semantics
Get PDFNegation and negative indefinites raise problems for the principle of compositionality
of meaning, because we find both double and single negation readings in natural
languages. De Swart and Sag (2002) solve the compositionality problem in a polyadic
quantifier framework. The syntax-semantics interface exploits an extension of the
Cooper storage mechanism that HPSG uses to account for scope ambiguities. In de
Swart and Sag (2002), all negative quantifiers are collected into an N-store, and are
interpreted by means of iteration (double negation) or resumption (negative concord)
upon retrieval. This puts the ambiguity between single and double negation readings
in the grammar, rather than in the lexical items. This paper extends the earlier analysis
with a typology of negation and negative indefinites using bi-directional optimality
theory (OT). The constraints defined are universal, but their ranking varies from one
language to the next. In negative concord languages, the functional motivation for the
marking of \u27negative variables\u27 wins out, so we use n-words. Double negation
languages value first-order iteration, so we use plain indefinites or negative polarity
items within the scope of negation. The bi-directional set-up is essential, for syntactic
and semantic variation go hand in hand
Case marking in Korean auxiliary verb constructions
Get PDFThis paper deals with case marking in auxiliary verb constructions (AVCs) in Korean, and investigates how the case marking pattern in AVCs can be explained in terms of structural case resolution in the spirit of Pollard 1994, Heinz & Matiasek 1994, and Przepiórkowski 1999. In this paper, a new set of data involving various combinations of auxiliary verbs is presented to point out problems for both transformational analyses based on head movement and previous HPSG analyses in which the final auxiliary verb solely determines the case of the complements of the whole complex predicate. This paper shows that while most auxiliary verbs "inherit" the case marking property of the preceding verb, the auxiliary verbs siph- \u27want\u27 and ha- \u27act like\u27 have an additional property of assigning nominative and accusative case, respectively, to their complements. The actual case assignment by these auxiliary verbs is made possible, however, depending on what other kind of auxiliary verbs they are combined with. Based on the complex predicate analysis of AVCs, this paper proposes that complicated case patterns in AVCs can be accounted for by classification of verbs/auxiliary verbs via distinct feature values and by the mechanism of structural case resolution
On the notion ˋˋdeterminer\u27\u27
No full textFollowing a common practice in generative grammar, HPSG treats the
determiners as members of a separate functional part of speech (Det).
The status of the functional parts of speech is a matter of debate and
controversy. The auxiliaries, for instance, are commonly treated as
members of a separate functional category (Aux or Infl) in many variants
of generative grammar, including GB, MP and LFG, but in
GPSG and HPSG, it is a matter of equally common practice
to treat them as members of V and to reject the postulation of
a separate functional category, see
Pullum & Wilson (1977) and Gazdar, Pullum & Sag (1982).
This text makes a similar case for the determiners; more
specifically, it argues that the determiners are categorially
heterogeneous, in the sense that some are members of A, whereas
others are members of N. The argumentation is mainly based on
inflectional morphology and morpho-syntactic agreement data.
The consequences of the categorial heterogeneity are hard to
reconcile with the specifier treatment of the determiners in
Pollard & Sag (1994) and with the Det-as-head treatment in
Netter (1994), but it can smoothly be integrated in the
functor treatment of the prenominals in Allegranza (1998) and
Van Eynde (2002)
Impersonal and personal passivization of Latin infinitive constructions: A scrutiny of the structures called AcI
Get PDFClitic climbing revisited
Get PDFPresently, there is overall consent among researchers on Romance in HPSG (Miller and Sag, 1997, Abeillé et al., 1998, Monachesi, 1996, 1999) that bounded clitic climbing (CC) is best understood in terms of argument composition. Despite the fact that all current analyses of CC are based on the same core idea, individual analyses of this phenomenon differ.In this paper, I shall propose a unified approach that will be applicable to CC in both French and Italian. The approach will be cast entirely in terms of valence lists, argument structure and slash, such that construction- or language-specific book-keeping devices can be eliminated. As a side-effect, this approach provides a more strengthened view of lexical integrity, in that morphological information, i.e. an argument\u27s mode of realisation, will not be directly accessible for subcategorisation
A two-rule analysis of measure noun phrases
Get PDFIn this paper we present an analysis of English measure noun phrases. Measure
noun phrases exhibit both distributional idiosyncrasy, in that they appear in
positions normally filled by degree adverbs: "a ten inch long string"; and
agreement discord: "ten inches is enough", "it is ten inch/*inches long".
The analysis introduces one idiosyncratic construction, the Measure Phrase
Rule, which links together syntax and inflectional morphology. Combined with
existing rules, in particular the Noun-noun Compound Rule, the new rule
accounts for the both the distributional and agreement idiosyncrasies. The
rule has been implemented and tested in the ERG, a broad-coverage grammar of
English. Our analysis supports the position that broad-coverage grammars
will necessarily contain both highly schematic and highly idiosyncratic
rules
An HPSG analysis of the non-integrated wh-relative clauses in German
Get PDFIn this article, the so-called wh-relative clause construction is
investigated. The German wh-relative clauses are syntactically relevant as they
show both, root clause and subordinate clause properties. They matter
semantically because they are introduced by a wh-anaphor that has to be
resolved by an appropriate abstract entity of the matrix clause. Additionally,
the wh-relative clause construction is discourse-functionally peculiar since it
evokes coherence. Besides these interesting empirical characteristics,
whrelatives raise important theoretical questions. It is argued that the
standard HPSG theory has to be extended to account for non-restrictive relative
clauses in general, and to cope with the particular properties of the
wh-relative construction