Constituent coordination in LFG (original) (raw)

Constituent coordination in Lexical-Functional Grammar

Proceedings of the 12th conference on Computational linguistics -, 1988

This paper outlines a theory of constituent coordination for Lexical-Functional Grammar. On this theory LFG's flat, unstructured sets are used as the functional representation of coordinate constructions.

Constituent Coordination in Lexieal-Functional Grammar

International Conference on Computational Linguistics, 1989

This paper outlines a theory of constituent coordination for[,exicaI-Ftmctional Grammar. On this theory LFG's fiat, unstructuredsets are nsed as the functional representation of coordinateconstructleas. l"unction application is extended to sets by treating a settbrmally as the generalization of its functional elmnents. This causesproperties aLtribnted externally to a coordinate structure to beuniformly distributed across its clenmnts, without requiring additionalgTammatieal...

Coordination and Syntactic Hierarchy*

Studia Linguistica, 2005

This article discusses the syntax of coordinate structures, in particular the status of initial coordinators, multiple coordination, and the asymmetries between conjuncts with respect to c-command relations. The idea of coordinators as heads-hence the CoP-is endorsed, but not for initial coordinators; rather they figure in a separate 'distributive phrase', which is transparently correlated to the (often ambiguous) semantics of the construction. Furthermore, it is argued that the lack of c-command between conjuncts is an instance of a broader effect, namely the 'invisibility' of paratactic material in generaland of second conjuncts in particular. Therefore, the grammar must have means to attach a paratactic constituent to the rest of the structure in a way that will eventually block c-command relations from the context. As this is not standardly available, we are led to define an operation called b-Merge, which induces a special type of inclusion relation, 'behindance'. Thus, a modern revival of the 3D approach to coordination is brought about.

Extraction and coordination in phrase structure grammar and categorial grammar

1989

A large proportion of computationally-oriented theories of grammar operate within the confines of monostratality (i.e. there is only one level of syntactic analysis), compositionality (i.e. the meaning of an expression is determined by the meanings of its syntactic parts, plus their manner of combination), and adjacency (i.e. the only operation on terminal strings is concatenation). This thesis looks at two major approaches falling within these bounds: that based on phrase structure grammar (e.g. Gazdar), and that based on categorial grammar (e.g. Steedman). The theories are examined with reference to extraction and coordination constructions; crucially a range of 'compound' extraction and coordination phenomena are brought to bear. It is argued that the early phrase structure grammar metarules can characterise operations generating compound phenomena, but in so doing require a categorial-like category system. It is also argued that while categorial grammar contains an adequ...

The Syntax of Coordination and Discontinuity in a Combinatory Categorial Grammar

This paper proposes a new analysis in a Combinatory Categorial Grammar (CCG) of long-known coordination and discontinuity data in English. The analysis is based on the wrap operation first proposed by . It goes on to explore new data relating to Heavy-NP Shift and particle verbs, and a discontinuous coordination phenomenon known as Right-Node Wrapping (Whitman 2009). Finally it demonstrates that all these data are natural consequences of the present analysis.

Constraints on coordination in English

Language Research, 2001

This paper examines various types of coordination structures in English. Unlike regular coordinate structures, some data show that the coordinately conjoined elements are syntactically different categories, thus violating Chomsky's same type condition and Williams's Law of the Coordination of Likes. I show that the coordination of the unlike categories dubbed as CUCs in the literature can best be accounted for by a semantically oriented condition such that constituents can be coordinately conjoined if they are semantically connected with each other.

Coordination in Minimalist Grammars: Excorporation and Across the Board (Head) Movement

This paper describes how coordination has been integrated into a broad coverage statistical Minimalist Grammar parser currently under development, and presents a unified analysis for a number of coordinate (and related) constructions sometimes considered problematic for transfor-mational syntax; these include across-the-board (ATB) head and phrasal movements, argument cluster coordination, right node raising and parasitic gaps. To accommodate all these structures, a number of novel extensions are introduced into the formalism, including a mechanism for excorporation which enables ATB head movement; this supplements a variant of Kobele's (2008) mechanism for ATB phrasal movement. The weak expressive power of the formalism is shown to be unaffected by these extensions.

Coordinate grammar

Chomsky (1959a) presented an algorithm for constructing a finite transducer that is strongly equivalent to a Chomsky-normal-form context-free grammar for all sentences generated by that grammar with up to any specified finite degree of center embedding. This article presents a new solution using a variety of COORDINATE GRAMMAR to assign nonembedding (paratactic) structures strongly equivalent to those assigned by an embedding grammar, which can in turn be directly computed by a finite transducer. It proposes that the bound on center embedding is really a consequence of a bound on alternation between right and left embedding, called here ZIGZAG EMBEDDING. Coordinate grammars can also be used to assign nonembedding structures equivalent to those with up to any specified finite degree of coordinate embedding (the occurrence of a coordinate structure as a member of a coordinate structure of the same type). It concludes that coordinate grammars or the finite transducers strongly equivalent to them are psychologically real, and that the existence of a finite bound on the degree of zigzag and coordinate embedding is a consequence of the increasing size and complexity of such grammars or transducers as the bound increases.