Linguistics, Logic and Finite Trees

Blackburn, Patrick; Meyer-Viol, Wilfried

doi:10.1093/jigpal/2.1.3

Cited by 79 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Parsing takes place on a left-to-right basis with a direct and dynamic mapping from linearly-ordered words to structured semantic representations on these trees. The Logic of Finite Trees (LOFT, Blackburn andMeyer-Viol 1994, Kempson et al 2001) is used to annotate tree nodes and makes it possible to explicitly state relations that hold between the tree nodes. An overview of the tree annotations employed in this paper is provided in (1) below.…”

Section: Dynamic Syntax 21 the Tools Of The Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation and Grammaticalisation in Bantu Complex Verbal Constructions: The Dynamics of Information Growth in Swahili, Rangi and SiSwati

Gibson¹,

Marten²

2016

Approaches to Complex Predicates

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Many Bantu languages have a system of complex verbal constructions, where several verbal forms combine to describe a single event. Typically, these consist of an auxiliary and a main verb, and often tense-aspect marking and subject agreement is found on both forms. In this paper we develop a parsing-based, Dynamic Syntax analysis of complex verbal constructions in three Bantu languages -Swahili, Rangi and siSwati -and show how concepts of structural underspecification, accumulation of information and contextual update can be harnessed to explain the use of several verbal forms for the building of one semantic structure. At the heart of the analysis is the idea that structure established early in the parse can be 're-built' from subsequent lexical input as long as incrementality and information growth are respected. This correctly predicts the accumulation of tense-aspect information and the fact that multiple subject markers have to be interpreted identically, while maintaining a uniform pronominal analysis of Bantu subject markers. From a comparative perspective, we show that complex verbal constructions result from processes of grammaticalisation, and, especially with reference to the extensive auxiliary system of siSwati, we sketch different processes of lexical change underlying the stages of the grammaticalisation process.

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Section: Dynamic Syntax 21 the Tools Of The Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation and Grammaticalisation in Bantu Complex Verbal Constructions: The Dynamics of Information Growth in Swahili, Rangi and SiSwati

Gibson¹,

Marten²

2016

Approaches to Complex Predicates

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“…Nevertheless, there are aspects of the theory which display isolationist modelling tendencies. For instance, the semantic typing system (a modified version of Montague grammar) is defined separately from the modal logic definitions involved with the tree formalism which is a variant of the Logic of Finite Trees (Blackburn and Meyer-Viol 1994). 15 In DS, linguists are still in the business of developing minimal models and attempting to "generate" (in the sense of minimal determination) the properties or explanations thereof by offering a causal basis which ignores even potentially relevant or related material.…”

Section: Modelling Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scientific modelling in generative grammar and the dynamic turn in syntax

Nefdt

2016

Linguist and Philos

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In this paper, I address the issue of scientific modelling in contemporary linguistics, focusing on the generative tradition. In so doing, I identify two common varieties of linguistic idealisation, which I call determination and isolation respectively. I argue that these distinct types of idealisation can both be described within the remit of Weisberg's (J Philos 104 (12) erative tradition, along scientific modelling lines. Thus, I offer a lens through which to appreciate the scientific contribution of generative grammar, amid an increased resistance to some of its core theoretical posits, in terms of a brand of structural realism in the philosophy of science and specifically scientific modelling.

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“…Such trees are formalised using LOFT (Blackburn and Meyer-Viol 1994), a modal logic designed to allow the processor to refer to partial, complete or required tree structure. LOFT makes available modal operators h:i,h;i defining the concepts of mother and daughter nodes and their iterated underspecified counterparts, h" Ã i;h# Ã i, 8 defining the notions be dominated by and dominate, thus allowing for partially specified trees in terms of structure.…”

Section: Content Representationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grammar resources for modelling dialogue dynamically

et al. 2009

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This paper argues that by analysing language as a mechanism for growth of information (Cann et al. in The Dynamics of Language, Elsevier, Oxford, 2005; Kempson et al. in Dynamic Syntax, Blackwell, Oxford, 2001), not only does a unitary basis for ellipsis become possible, otherwise thought to be irredeemably heterogeneous, but also a whole range of sub-types of ellipsis, otherwise thought to be unique to dialogue, emerge as natural consequences of use of language in context. Dialogue fragment types modelled include reformulations, clarification requests, extensions, and acknowledgements. Buttressing this analysis, we show how incremental use of fragments serves to progressively narrow down the otherwise mushrooming interpretational alternatives in language use, and hence is central to fluent conversational interaction. We conclude that, by its ability to reflect dialogue dynamics as a core phenomenon of language use, a grammar with inbuilt parsing dynamics opens up the potential for analysing language as a mechanism for communicative interaction.

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Linguistics, Logic and Finite Trees

Cited by 79 publications

References 6 publications

Variation and Grammaticalisation in Bantu Complex Verbal Constructions: The Dynamics of Information Growth in Swahili, Rangi and SiSwati

Variation and Grammaticalisation in Bantu Complex Verbal Constructions: The Dynamics of Information Growth in Swahili, Rangi and SiSwati

Scientific modelling in generative grammar and the dynamic turn in syntax

Grammar resources for modelling dialogue dynamically

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