The Syntactic Process

Language, Speech, and Communication

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By: Mark Steedman

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Published: 27th July 2001
For Ages: 18+ years old

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In this book Mark Steedman argues that the surface syntax of natural languages maps spoken and written forms directly to a compositional semantic representation that includes predicate-argument structure, quantification, and information structure without constructing any intervening structural representation. His purpose is to construct a principled theory of natural grammar that is directly compatible with both explanatory linguistic accounts of a number of problematic syntactic phenomena and a straightforward computational account of the way sentences are mapped onto representations of meaning. The radical nature of Steedman's proposal stems from his claim that much of the apparent complexity of syntax, prosody, and processing follows from the lexical specification of the grammar and from the involvement of a small number of universal rule-types for combining predicates and arguments. These syntactic operations are related to the combinators of Combinatory Logic, engendering a much freer definition of derivational constituency than is traditionally assumed. This property allows Combinatory Categorial Grammar to capture elegantly the structure and interpretation of coordination and intonation contour in English as well as some well-known interactions between word order, coordination, and relativization across a number of other languages. It also allows more direct compatibility with incremental semantic interpretation during parsing.The book covers topics in formal linguistics, intonational phonology, computational linguistics, and experimental psycholinguistics, presenting them as an integrated theory of the language faculty in a form accessible to readers from any of those fields.

"Steedman has deftly woven two decades of seminal work on human language understanding into this accessible and engaging volume." - Bob Carpenter, Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs

Preface	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Grammar and Information Structure
Rules, Constituents, and Fragments	p. 11
Constituents	p. 12
Fragments	p. 14
Issues of Power and Explanation	p. 22
Grammar as an Applicative System	p. 27
Intuitive Basis of Combinatory Categorial Grammars	p. 31
Pure Categorial Grammar	p. 31
Interpretation and Predicate-Argument Structure	p. 35
Coordination	p. 39
The Bluebird	p. 40
The Thrush	p. 43
The Starling	p. 49
Explaining Constraints on Natural Grammar	p. 53
Intrinsic Constraints Limiting the Set of Possible Rules	p. 53
Linguistic Constraints on Unbounded Dependencies	p. 59
Linguistic Constraints on Bounded Dependencies	p. 64
Quantification in CCG	p. 70
Summary: Surface Structure and Interpretation	p. 85
Structure and Intonation	p. 89
Surface Structure and Intonation Structure	p. 92
Two Intonation Contours and Their Functions	p. 95
Theme and Rheme	p. 99
Focus and Background	p. 106
Grammar and Information Structure	p. 109
Intonation and the Simplex Clause	p. 119
Intonation in Complex Constructions	p. 122
Conclusion	p. 124
Coordination and Word Order
Cross-Serial Dependencies in Dutch	p. 133
Word Order in Dutch	p. 136
Verb Raising as Composition	p. 138
Equi Verbs	p. 144
Argument Cluster Composition	p. 146
Relative Clauses	p. 155
Subject and Object Extraction from Embedded Clauses	p. 158
Dutch Main-clause Order	p. 159
Interaction of Word order and Quantifier Scope	p. 164
On the Rarity of Crossing Dependencies	p. 166
Summary of the Dutch Fragment	p. 167
Gapping and the Order of Constituents	p. 171
Gapping and SOV Word Order	p. 172
Gapping and VSO Word Order	p. 176
Gapping and SVO Word Order	p. 179
Other Elliptical Phenomena	p. 195
A Cautious Conclusion	p. 197
Computation and Performance
Combinators and Grammars	p. 201
Why Categories and Combinators?	p. 201
Why Bluebirds, Thrushes, and Starlings?	p. 203
Expressive Power	p. 207
Formalizing Directionality in Categorial Grammars	p. 213
Directionality as a Feature	p. 216
Processing in Context	p. 225
Anatomy of a Processor	p. 226
Toward Psychologically Realistic Parsers	p. 246
CCG Parsing for Practical Applications	p. 251
The Syntactic Interface	p. 255
Competence	p. 255
Acquisition	p. 258
Performance	p. 259
Notes	p. 263
References	p. 283
Index	p. 321
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 9780262692687
ISBN-10: 0262692686
Series: Language, Speech, and Communication
Audience: Professional
For Ages: 18+ years old
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 344
Published: 27th July 2001
Publisher: MIT Press Ltd
Country of Publication: US
Dimensions (cm): 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9
Weight (kg): 0.45