Formal syntax

Generative Oscillation - A Cognitive Model for the Emergence of Language

by Thorold (Thor) May

Research Material for a discontinued PhD

DRAFT COPY ONLY

NOT READY FOR PRINT PUBLICATION

The GO model proposes a co-generative view of the emergence of language. Most conventional linguistics models conceive... more The GO model proposes a co-generative view of the emergence of language. Most conventional linguistics models conceive of language as a representational system of symbols which refer to events, either mental or external to the organism. This representational function is said to motivate the linguistic system and (depending upon the linguistic model) largely control its form. The GO (Generative Oscillation) model proposed here recognizes the representational role of language. However it notes that as the mental linguistic system itself becomes efficiently organized, it creates an internal logic and drive of its own. To some extent this internally motivated linguistic system is conceived to override the external motivation to represent another reality. Since the internal linguistic system is dynamic and generative, it may give rise to linguistic output which seems strange in an inter-human communicative context (or even within the reflective mind of the creator). Thus while the external communicative context can become a constraint on unmotivated non-representational "internal language", it might not eliminate it. The Generative Oscillation model proposes that actual language production is an oscillating compromise between the representational function of language and the mental "language bot" itself (i.e. an internal self-organizing system) which is generating language strings just because that is what language language bots do. As far as I know, the Generative Oscillation Model, or anything like it, had not been suggested before in linguistics at the time of writing. Some conventional linguists may find it a bit "off the wall".

Misyurov D.A. Dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas // Credo New. 2012. №2

by Dmitry Misyurov

The article suggests dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas: formula with... more The article suggests dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas: formula with dominant and the non-dominant elements; universal formula; formula with symbolic weight of elements; tautological formula. For example, it suggests an opportunity to use the dialectical formulas for modeling and artificial intelligence creation, etc.

Verbs of Result in the Complements of Raising Constructions

by Thorold (Thor) May

Australian Journal of Linguistics 7 (1987), 25-42

Note: The author has now moved on from Joan Bresnan's Lexical Functional approach. This is relevant to interpreting the paper as it is presented here, although the actual issues with which the content deals are, I hope, still usefully clarified by the argumentation.

Abstract : The analysis considers the manner in which a class of matrix verbs, the so-called raising verbs, have been... more Abstract : The analysis considers the manner in which a class of matrix verbs, the so-called raising verbs, have been fitted into some generative linguistic models. Taking as a cue the difficulty posed for these models by sentences of the kind, *Linda believes Gary to murder David, the analysis proceeds beyond existing criteria for "raising" to the notion of Relative Tense.

It is found that Relative Tense has a direct bearing on the infinitival complements permitted by raising-to-object verbs and some raising-to-subject verbs. The relevant constraints are formulated for incorporation into Bresnan's Lexical Functional Grammar as the Independent XCOMP Singularity Condition. The IXCSC may be recorded for convenience in the functional structure of LFG as a complex feature. When IXCSC carries a positive marking the functional structure of a sentence, that sentence may only be interpreted if ASPECT (AUX) is also marked as positive.

Postsuppositon and Pastiche Talk

by Thorold (Thor) May

University of Melbourne Working Papers in Linguistics 14 (1994): 31-46

Abstract : Natural languages are examined as members of the class of complex dynamic systems in nature. The... more Abstract : Natural languages are examined as members of the class of complex dynamic systems in nature. The mathematical models of Complexity Theory have shown that complex dynamic systems as diverse as cyclones, the stock market and the human genome have the properties of a) being self-organising, b) existing in a precarious state of cyclical activity which alters slightly on each cycle, and c) containing an inherent indeterminacy. This last property, indeterminacy, is taken as a cue to develop an argument that language cannot be entirely representational, or altogether functional. It is proposed that in the generation of language there is a constant oscillation where thought sometimes gives rise to language, and alternatively, where unmotivated fragments of language force the development of post-rationalised ideas. Evidence is sought from the behaviour of formulaic phrases and apparent presuppositions

Purposive Constructions in English

by Thorold (Thor) May

The detailed analysis of Purposive Constructions in this long paper will help researchers to clarify these phenomena in English, even though the linguistic model employed, Chomsky's Government and Binding, has (in my view) been superseded.

Abstract: This thesis* explores some of the syntactic & semantic properties of Purposive Constructions in English.... more Abstract: This thesis* explores some of the syntactic & semantic properties of Purposive Constructions in English. The term "purposive" is recognized as a semantic concept which finds regular expression in a small range of syntactic configurations. Purpose Clauses (PCs) and Rationale Clauses (Rat.Cs) are examined in some detail. Briefer reference is made to several other configurations, notably Because Clauses, So-That Clauses and Infinitival Relatives. In general Purposive Constructions comprise rather fuzzy semantic categories. Nevertheless, the main syntactic features are fairly clear. Interpretation of the constructions requires a systematic account of the control of empty slots (ellipted NPs) by thematic elements in the matrix clause. General conditions of Government and Binding appear adequate to predict the distribution of gaps in most Purposive Clauses. However, the relationship between propositions predicated of a common argument in these constructions is found to sometimes require matching conditions too subtle for syntax alone to predict. A concept of Thematic Coextensiveness is introduced to account for such matching.

(2012d) Prospects for a Radically Minimalist OT

by Diego Gabriel Krivochen

First Draft. Special thanks to Mike Putnam, to whom I owe all I know about OT.

This paper has a simple and at the same time ambitious purpose: to open the door for mathematical learning algorithms... more This paper has a simple and at the same time ambitious purpose: to open the door for mathematical learning algorithms in a Radically Minimalist crash-proof version of Optimality Theory. This objective will be pursued with Minimalism as a program -not as a theory- in its most radical version; and the theoretical substance will be provided by OT. A secondary but not less important aim of this paper is to show that mathematical formalizations of natural languages do not necessarily imply a “metaphor”, but it is possible to work with the hypothesis that natural objects are in themselves mathematical structures (Tegmark, 2007). Such a formalization will be the first step in order to allow a more fluent interdisciplinary scientific exchange with formal sciences.

Annual Workshop on Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics: The Seattle Meeting 1998

by Cynthia M. Vakareliyska

Syntax and Language Acquisition

by Sonja Eisenbeiss

(to appear) Syntax and language acquisition. In: T. Kiss and A. Alexiadou (eds.), Syntax: an international handbook, 2nd Edition. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.ms.

This chapter provides an overview of theoretical issues and core empirical findings in cross-linguistic research on... more This chapter provides an overview of theoretical issues and core empirical findings in cross-linguistic research on the acquisition of syntax. Section 1 identifies key issues in syntax acquisition research: (i) the respective contribution of learners' input and innate predispositions for language acquisition;(ii) the time course of syntactic development; (iii) the role of learners’ age and potential implications for monolingual, bilingual and second language (L2) acquisition. Section 2 introduces methods for investigating syntactic development. Section 3 discusses the relative role of learners’ input and innate predispositions for syntax acquisition. This section presents (i) generative, Optimality Theory and usage-based approaches to syntactic development and (ii) the empirical findings on learners’ input that form the background for the debate between proponents of the different approaches. Section 4 focuses on the emergence of syntax. The following sections discuss the acquisition of core syntactic phenomena: questions and embedded clauses (section 5), passives (section 6), co-reference (section 7), and quantification (section 8). Each of these sections gives an overview of theoretical accounts and empirical findings; with a focus on monolingual first language (L1) acquisition. Age effects and differences between monolingual and bilingual acquisition are the focus of section 9. Section 10 discusses the empirical findings and their theoretical implications and highlights current trends.

(2012c) Towards a Geometrical Syntax: a Formalization of Radical Minimalism

by Diego Gabriel Krivochen

Nontransformational grammar

by J P Blevins

In K. Malkmær (ed.), The Routledge Encyclopedia of Linguistics, 3rd edn (2009). London: Taylor & Francis, 377-392.

Derived constituent order in unbounded dependency constructions

by J P Blevins

Journal of Linguistics 30 (1994), 349–409

Syntactic complexity: Evidence for discontinuity and multidomination

by J P Blevins

1990 PhD thesis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Distributed by GLSA.

Feature-based grammar

by J P Blevins

Chapter 8 in R. D. Borsley & K. Börjars (eds.), Nontransformational Syntax (2011). Oxford: Blackwell, 297-324.

Phrase Structure Grammar

by J P Blevins

J. P. Blevins & Ivan A Sag. To appear in M. den Dikken (ed.) The Cambridge Handbook of Generative Syntax. Cambridge University Press.

Coordination in Modern Hebrew

by Esther Haber

Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, Leiden: Brill (forthcoming)

Re­sul­ta­tive Con­struc­tions: Syn­tax, World Knowl­edge, and Col­lo­ca­tion­al Re­stric­tions. Re­view of Hans C. Boas: A Con­struc­tion­al Ap­proach to Re­sul­ta­tives

by Stefan Müller

2005 in Stud­ies in Lan­guage 29(3), pages 651–681

This review of Hans C. Boas' book A Constructional Approach to Resultatives discusses Boas' enumerative approach, the... more This review of Hans C. Boas' book A Constructional Approach to Resultatives discusses Boas' enumerative approach, the reference to world knowledge in lexical items and the capturing of generalizations with regard to resultative constructions by making use of lexical rules.

The Simple Past Puzzle

by Nino Gulli

In this paper, I claim that the so-called present perfect puzzle is, in reality, a puzzle about the simple past. It is... more In this paper, I claim that the so-called present perfect puzzle is, in reality, a puzzle about the simple past. It is the latter, I argue, that shows a puzzling behavior, given that it can be used not only in definite contexts but also in seemingly indefinite ones. I employ the notions of time frame and specifiability to show how the obvious distinction between the two tenses in terms of temporal logic can be accounted for. I also propose that the past morpheme “-ed” be considered a kind of verb determiner which takes a temporal XP as a complement. Such complement can (and usually is) expressed, but it can also remain implicit.

An HPSG-analysis for free relative clauses in German

by Stefan Müller

Appeared 1999 in Gram­mars 2(1), pages 53–105.

From GB lit­er­a­ture (cf. (Bausewein, 1990)) on the sub­ject it is known that free rel­a­tives be­have part­ly like... more From GB lit­er­a­ture (cf. (Bausewein, 1990)) on the sub­ject it is known that free rel­a­tives be­have part­ly like noun phras­es. They can fill ar­gu­ment po­si­tions of verbs.

(1) a. Was er nicht kennt, ißt er nicht.
b. Die da stehen, kennen wir nicht.

And al­though they are fi­nite sen­tences, they are se­ri­al­ized like noun phras­es in the Ger­man Mit­telfeld.

(2) Er hat, was er geschenkt bekommen hat, sofort in den Schrank gestellt.

The func­tion free rel­a­tives can take is not re­strict­ed to com­ple­ments. De­pend­ing on the prop­er­ties of the rel­a­tive phrase, free rel­a­tives can be mod­i­fiers as well.

(3) Wo du schläfst, ist es laut.

I will argue that free rel­a­tives pro­ject to a cat­e­go­ry that is tight­ly re­lat­ed to the cat­e­go­ry of the rel­a­tive phrase. The re­la­tion be­tween the rel­a­tive phrase and the pro­jec­tion of the free rel­a­tive clause is es­tab­lished via a re­la­tion­al con­straint (a dis­junc­tion ba­si­cal­ly). This ac­counts both for the syn­tac­tic reg­u­lar­i­ties, and for the se­man­tics of free rel­a­tives.

As In­gria (1990) has shown, as­sign­ment of dif­fer­ent case in the rel­a­tive and the ma­trix clause-​-​like in (1b)-​-​pos­es prob­lems for gram­mars that rely on uni­fi­ca­tion alone. In the fol­low­ing paper I will argue against his sub­sump­tion based ac­count, and pro­vide a dif­fer­ent so­lu­tion to the prob­lem that re­lies on the above men­tioned re­la­tion­al con­straints for the pro­jec­tion of prop­er­ties of the rel­a­tive phrase.

In gen­er­al there are three pos­si­bil­i­ties to an­a­lyze sen­tences like (1-3): an empty head, a unary pro­jec­tion and a lex­i­cal rule. I will argue for the unary schema and dis­cuss the al­ter­na­tives.

And just for fun an­oth­er ex­am­ple sen­tence taken from HPSG für das Deutsche (from the part that de­scribes free rel­a­tives):

(5) Was bei Ingria ein Subsumptionstest ist, ist bei Dalrymple und Kaplan ein Enthaltenseinstest.



See webpage for a demo of the analysis, that is, parses of the above examples and more.

Towards an HPSG analysis of Maltese

by Stefan Müller

In Ber­nard Com­rie, Ray Fabri, Eliza­beth Hume, Man­wel Mifsud, Tho­mas Stolz und Mar­ti­ne Van­ho­ve (Hgg), 2009: In­tro­du­cing Mal­te­se lin­gu­is­tics. Selec­ted pa­pers from the 1st In­ter­na­tio­nal Con­fe­rence on Mal­te­se Lin­gu­is­tics (Bre­men/Ger­ma­ny, 18–20 Oc­to­ber, 2007), Stu­dies in Lan­gua­ge Com­pa­ni­on Se­ries, Nr. 113, Ams­ter­dam, Phil­adel­phia: John Ben­ja­mins, Sei­ten 83–112.

This paper gives an overview of the phe­nom­e­na that are cov­ered in the im­ple­men­ta­tion of a frag­ment of Maltes... more This paper gives an overview of the phe­nom­e­na that are cov­ered in the im­ple­men­ta­tion of a frag­ment of Maltes and sketch­es some of the anal­y­ses.

Valency
Constituent order
Morphology
Definiteness
Clitics

Solving the bracketing paradox: an analysis of the morphology of German particle verbs

by Stefan Müller

2003, Jour­nal of Lin­guis­tics 39(2), pages 275-​325.

The fact that in­flec­tion­al af­fix­es al­ways at­tach to the ver­bal stem leads to the brack­et­ing para­dox in the... more The fact that in­flec­tion­al af­fix­es al­ways at­tach to the ver­bal stem leads to the brack­et­ing para­dox in the case of par­ti­cle verbs since the se­man­tic con­tri­bu­tion of the in­flec­tion­al in­for­ma­tion scopes over the com­plete par­ti­cle verb.

Fur­ther­more some deriva­tion­al af­fix­es (as for in­stance -bar) pro­duc­tive­ly at­tach to tran­si­tive verbs only. If the di­rect ob­ject of a verb is li­cenced by the par­ti­cle, this leads to an­oth­er brack­at­ing para­dox.

I will dis­cuss nom­i­nal­iza­tions and ad­jec­tive deriva­tion, which are also prob­lem­at­ic be­cause of var­i­ous brack­et­ing para­dox­es. I will sug­gest a so­lu­tion to these para­dox­es that as­sumes that in­flec­tion­al and deriva­tion­al pre­fix­es and suf­fix­es al­ways at­tach to a form of a stem that con­tains the in­for­ma­tion about par­ti­cles al­ready, but with­out con­tain­ing a phono­log­i­cal re­al­iza­tion of the par­ti­cle. The par­ti­cle is a de­pen­dent of the verb and is com­bined with its head after in­flec­tion and deriva­tion. With such an ap­proach no re­brack­et­ing mech­a­nisms are nec­es­sary.

Ap­part from mor­pho­log­i­cal prop­er­ties of par­ti­cle verbs, I also dis­cuss their syn­tac­tic prop­er­ties and sug­gest a syn­tac­tic anal­y­sis. There­fore the anal­y­sis cov­ers mor­phol­o­gy, syn­tax, and se­man­tics of par­ti­cle verbs.