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Optimality-Theoretic Syntax cover

Optimality-Theoretic Syntax

A Declarative Approach

Jonas Kuhn

Jonas Kuhn advances Optimality Theory (OT) by clarifying the significant choices in the design of a formally precise OT approach to syntax. Building on OT work that uses the representation structures of Lexical Functional Grammar (OT-LFG), this book defines the notion of an OT-syntactic grammar in a declarative, non-derivational way.

Along with the standard OT architecture, which is based on a generation metaphor, Kuhn also formalizes parsing-based OT and goes on to discuss possible combinations of these two architectures. This is followed by an examination of assumptions under which the computational tasks of generation and parsing are decidable for an OT-syntactic grammar.

Jonas Kuhn is an assistant professor of computational linguistics in the linguistics department of The University of Texas at Austin.

Contents

  • Preface
  • 1 Introdution
  • 2 The Foundation of OT
    • 2.1 Conflicting Violable Constraints
    • 2.2 Factorial Typology and the Grounding of Constraints
      • 2.2.1 Factorial typology
      • 2.2.2 The predictive power of factorial typology
      • 2.2.3 The grounding of constraints
      • 2.2.4 Simplicity in the logical structure
    • 2.3 Summary

  • 3 Observations about OT Syntax
    • 3.1 On the Motivation of Syntactic OT Constraints
    • 3.2 Faithfulness violations in Phonology and Syntax
      • 3.2.1 Constraint interaction as the main explanatory device
      • 3.2.2 Epenthesis and deletion in phonology
      • 3.2.3 Syntactic variation across languages
      • 3.2.4 Consequences for Gen
    • 3.3 Learning and the Character of the Input
      • 3.3.1 Learning in OT
      • 3.3.2 Criteria for learnability—implications for the input
      • 3.3.3 Language-Particular Ineffability
      • 3.3.4 The problem for learnability
      • 3.3.5 The non-derivational view of the input-output connection
    • 3.4 Summary

  • 4 The Formalization of OT Syntax
    • 4.1 Background of Lexical-Functional Grammar
    • 4.2 Optimalit-Theoretic LFG—the Overall Architectures
      • 4.2.1 Abstract formal specification
      • 4.2.2 Degrees of freedom in this OT-LFG architecture
      • 4.2.3 Undecidability arguments for unrestricted OT systems
      • 4.2.4 Fixing the choices in the definitions
    • 4.3 Candidate Generation and the Invoilable Principles
      • 4.3.1 The restricted definition of GenGinviol
      • 4.3.2 Completeness and Coherence in OT syntax
      • 4.3.3 The base grammar Ginviol
    • 4.4 The Violable Constraints: Markedness Constraints
      • 4.4.1 Markedness constraints in OT-LFG
      • 4.4.2 Universal quantification of constraints
      • 4.4.3 Constraint schemata
      • 4.4.4 Constraint schemata as standard LFG descriptions
      • 4.4.5 Digression: Constraint marking as description by analysis vs. codescription
    • 4.5 Faithfulness Constraints
      • 4.5.1 Faithfulness and subsumption-based GenGinviol
      • 4.5.2 The formalization of faithfulness constraints
    • 4.6 Summary

  • 5 The Direction of Optimization
    • 5.1 Varying the Input to Optimization
      • 5.1.1 Word order freezing
    • 5.2 The Character of Comprehension-based Optimization
      • 5.2.1 Apparent counterevidence against constraint ranking
      • 5.2.2 Optimization with a fixed context
    • 5.3 Bidirectional Optimization
      • 5.3.1 Sequential bidirectional optimization models
      • 5.3.2 Strong bidirectional optimization
      • 5.3.3 Weak bidirectional optimization
      • 5.3.4 Deriving recoverability through bidirectional optimization
      • 5.3.5 Ineffability and strong vs. weak bidirectionality
    • 5.4 Summary

  • 6 Computational OT Syntax
    • 5.1 Processing Issues for OT-LFG
      • 6.1.1 Inifinite candidate sets in processing
      • 6.1.2 Directionality in processing
    • 6.2 Decidability of OT-LFG Generation
      • 6.2.1 Generation with LFG grammars
      • 6.2.2 OT-LFG generation
    • 6.3 Recognition and Parsing for OT-LFG
      • 6.3.1 Undecidability of the unrestricted recognition problem
      • 6.3.2 Decidability of variants of the parsing task
    • 6.4 Summary

  • 7 Conclusion
  • References
  • Constraints Index
  • Name Index
  • Subject Index

5/15/2003

ISBN (Paperback): 1575864266 (9781575864266)
ISBN (Cloth): 1575864258 (9781575864259)
ISBN (Electronic): 1575869357 (9781575869353)

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