We explore a computational algebraic approach to grammar via pregroups, that is, partially ordered monoids in which each element has both a left and a right adjoint. Grammatical judgements are formed with the help of calculations on types. These are elements of the free pregroup generated by a partially ordered set of basic types, which are assigned to words, here of English. We concentrate on the object pronoun who(m).

We callsyntactic coding a technique which converts syntactic principles or constraints on representations into grammatical rules which can be implemented in any given rule grammar. In this paper we show that any principle or constraint on output trees formalizable in a certain fragment of dynamic logic over trees can be coded in this sense. This allows to reduce in a mechanical fashion most of the current theories of government and binding into GPSG-style grammars. This will be exemplified with Rizzi'sRelativized Minimality.

Chomsky’s principle of epistemological tolerance says that in theoretical linguistics contradictions between the data and the hypotheses may be temporarily tolerated in order to protect the explanatory power of the theory. The paper raises the following problem: What kinds of contradictions may be tolerated between the data and the hypotheses in theoretical linguistics? First a model of paraconsistent logic is introduced which differentiates between week and strong contradiction. As a second step, a case study is carried out which exemplifies that (...) the principle of epistemological tolerance may be interpreted as the tolerance of week contradiction. The third step of the argumentation focuses on another case study which exemplifies that the principle of epistemological tolerance must not be interpreted as the tolerance of strong contradiction. The reason for the latter insight is the unreliability and the uncertainty of introspective data. From this finding the author draws the conclusion that it is the integration of different data types that may lead to the improvement of current theoretical linguistics and that the integration of different data types requires a novel methodology which, for the time being, is not available. (shrink)

The paper investigates an elliptical construction, Clarification Ellipsis, that occurs in dialogue. We suggest that this provides data that demonstrates that updates resulting from utterances cannot be defined in purely semantic terms, contrary to the prevailing assumptions of existing approaches to dynamic semantics. We offer a computationally oriented analysis of the resolution of ellipsis in certain cases of dialogue clarification. We show that this goes beyond standard techniques used in anaphora and ellipsis resolution and requires operations on highly structured, linguistically (...) heterogeneous representations. We characterize these operations and the representations on which they operate. We offer an analysis couched in a version of Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar combined with a theory of information states (IS) in dialogue. We sketch an algorithm for the process of utterance integration in IS which leads to grounding or clarification. The account proposed here has direct applications to the theory of attitude reports, an issue which is explored briefly in the concluding remarks of the paper. (shrink)

En este artículo se presenta una aplicación del análisis de las proyecciones funcionales del Sintagma Determinante desarrollado por Borer a dos fenómenos relacionados que involucran a estructuras en función de complemento de estar: por un lado, encontramos la lectura no locativa de sintagmas preposicionales encabezados por en y complementados por un nominal escueto, y la lectura locativa de sintagmas encabezados por la misma preposición y complementados por un SDet con el mismo núcleo léxico N. Por otro lado, encontramos la alternancia (...) de un gerundio en estar entrenando con la estructura preposicional presente en estar en entrenamiento. Considerando, además, que solo en la lectura no locativa el sujeto de la cláusula corresponde a un participante semántico del evento, se propone que la presencia de determinante bloquea la posibilidad de establecer una relación de identidad referencial entre el sujeto de v y el sujeto de P, contribuyéndose así a la producción de una lectura locativa. La ausencia de bloqueo a la relación de identidad referencial mencionada permite producir una lectura no locativa que posibilita, al menos parcialmente, la alternancia entre las estructuras con gerundio y con nominal escueto. (shrink)