Academic literature on the topic 'Syntax'

The guidelines for syntactic annotation contain the layers that are especially relevant for queries related to the interaction of information structure with syntax. The layers of this level are constituent structure, grammatical functions, and semantic roles.

This thesis presents a model of natural language syntax as a dynamic system, defining possible transitions between a set of states. The model is inherently left-to-right in nature, with the states representing the growing interpretation of a sentence, and syntactic rules specifying the way the interpretation can be incremented given the next word in the string. In the first part of the thesis, I address the question of the use of models in linguistics. Accepting the standard arguments for the modularity of the process of language comprehension, I argue nevertheless that a model of syntactic competence is only open to objective evaluation if it is embedded in an overall model of performance. I argue that a dynamic formulation of the competence grammar ensures a transparent relation to what is known about language comprehension, in particular its incremental nature. I show that this obviates the need for a level of independent syntactic structure (either constituent or dependency-based), and is thus maximally parsimonious. In the proposed model, syntactic rules do not form an autonomous system, but make direct reference to the growing interpretation, thus distinguishing the model from other incremental approaches. In the second part, I go on to examine a wide-range of syntactic constructions, predominantly in English, and discuss how they may be modelled in the dynamic system. This includes a range of unbounded dependency constructions, problems of complement control, coordination and syntactic constraints on the binding of anaphora. In the final part, I look at the issues involved in embedding the dynamic model of syntactic competence in a model of language comprehension, seen both as a practical tool and as a model of the human sentence processor. I discuss how a probabilistic language model may be created by training the model of syntax on pre-analyzed data. Finally, I consider the consequences of possible processing strategies and how to model limitations on the human processor.

Through his work in ludics and Geometry of Interaction, Jean-Yves Girard invites us to a change of paradigm in the study of logic: the quest for a transcendental syntax, some kind of idealized language that emerges from the rules of logic. Amongst these rules, "testing" plays a leading role in defining a duality for the interpretation of negation. The present work focuses on a notion of polarity which is a central technique used throughout Girard's work to express linear negation. We describe some properties and illustrate them with examples with the purpose of getting acquainted with the technique. We also highlight how the classical connectives (conjunction and disjunction) arise from an interpretation based on testing. In a sense, this work is intended to provide an alternative introduction to Girard's ideas and we hope it can have some pedagogical value.

Afin de spécifier le comportement des langages de programmation, de préciser leurs propriétés et de certifier leurs implémentations, on étudie des modèles formels des langages de programmation. L'étude se divise en l'étude de la syntaxe et en celle de la sémantique. La deuxième est basée sur des modèles formels de la syntaxe. Cette thèse de doctorat se situe dans l'étude de la syntaxe et est consacrée principalement à deux approches à la syntaxe abstraite typée avec liaison de variables. Ces deux approches utilisent le langage de la théorie des catégories. La première approche est dans l'esprit de l'approche catégorique aux théories algébriques. La deuxième est basée sur la notion de monade et introduit la notion d'un module sur une monade qui remplace les foncteurs et leurs algèbres. En outre la deuxième approche est adaptée pour une classe plus large de syntaxes typées où les types dépendent des termes<br>In order to specify the behaviour of programming languages, to investigate their properties and to allow certification of their implementations, one studies formal models of existing programming languages. This study splits into the study of syntax and semantics, where the latter is based on appropriate formal models for the syntax. This PhD thesis is located in the syntactic part and is mainly concerned with two approaches to abstract syntax with variable binding. Both make use of the language of category theory. The first one is in the spirit of the category theoretic approach to algebraic theories. The second one is based on the notion of monads and introduces modules on monads instead of working with functors and their algebras. Furthermore the latter approach is adapted to a larger class of typed syntax with types depending on terms

The thesis investigates the phenomena of quantification in Mandarin Chinese. I provide an account of the word order of quantification in Mandarin Chinese by studying its syntax and syntax-external interface. I argue that the unique word order of Chinese quantification results from the obligatory requirement of two lexical items—dou ‘all’ (from mei ‘every’) and you ‘have’ (from the indefinites). I show that the syntax and semantics of the two items bring about flexibility of preverbal word order of universals and indefinites, which further leads to the absence of quantifier raising in Mandarin. On dou, I argue it is an associated adverb rather than a head of functional projection. Semantically, it is seen as a D operator and universal quantifier. It allows ‘intermediate distributivity’ and guarantees the maximality of the domain of the associated DP. Mei ‘every’ is argued to be a distributive dependant and set the value for Cover, a variable brought by dou. I show that you and indefinite is a parallel pair of mei…dou. I argue the licenser of preverbal indefinites you is a functional head occupying the Infl position and I argue against the verbal analysis. I also account for the adjacency between you and indefinite. I argue that the quantification mechanism in Mandarin provides important evidence for Huang’s argument that Chinese is more analytic than English and many other languages on the syntactic-analytic parameter (2005). I discover a new type of distributivity other than that marked by dou. It is formed with the plural subject under focus. I claim that it is a discourse-oriented distributivity and explore the intricate relation between the grouping of focus-introduced alternatives and the selection of the distributive reading under the Economy Principle.

This paper presents an account of how Minimalist derivation (Chomsky 1995) can be embedded in a comprehension model, the Late Assignment of Syntax Theory (LAST) (Townsend & Bever, 2001). The issues addressed concern the interface between the first step of the model, in which heuristic strategies apply to the utterance, and the second step, Minimalist derivation. Two questions about the interface are addressed: 1) How are features in the numeration needed to begin a Minimalist derivation chosen? 2) What dictates which units Merge in the derivation? Chomsky (1995:226-227) claims that we do not need to ask either question. I review his reasons and argue that we can and should answer these questions in a workable comprehension model. In response to the first question, I demonstrate that heuristic strategies applied to the utterance determine which features enter the numeration. In response to the second question, I discuss how heuristic strategies combined with lexical information determine which items Merge.