Framework Of Lexical-Functional Grammar Research Articles

Control, inner topicalisation, and focus fronting in Mandarin Chinese: modelling in parallel constraint-based grammatical architecture

This paper proposes a formal analysis of two displacement phenomena in Mandarin Chinese, namely inner topicalisation and focus fronting, capturing their correlational relationships with control and complementation. It examines a range of relevant data, including corpus examples, to derive empirical generalisations. Acceptability-judgment tasks, followed by mixed-effects statistical models, were conducted to provide additional evidence. This paper presents a constraint-based lexicalist proposal that is couched in the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG). The lexicon plays an important role in regulating the behaviour of complementation verbs as they participate in the displacement phenomena. Unlike previous analyses that cast inner topicalisation and focus fronting as restructuring phenomena, this lexicalist proposal does not rely on hypothesised clause-size differences. It captures the empirical properties more accurately and accounts for a wider range of empirical patterns. Adopting the formally explicit framework of LFG, this proposal uses constraints that have mathematical precision. The constraints are computationally implemented using the grammar engineering tool Xerox Linguistic Environment, safeguarding their precision.

The de-construction in Wenzhounese: how it differs from the bǎ-construction in Mandarin

The canonical word order in Mandarin is SVO, but it becomes “S bǎ O V” in the bǎ-construction, where bǎ vaguely expresses the affectedness of the object. How to analyze the bǎ-construction is one of the most controversial topics in Chinese grammar. This paper approaches the issue from a fresh perspective by presenting new data from Wenzhounese, where the de-construction is parallel to the bǎ-construction. Although these constructions share a considerable degree of similarity, they differ in the following key respects. First, they differ in the strategies used to topicalize the post-de/bǎ noun phrase (NP). Second, the quantifier taking scope over the post-de/bǎ NP has distinct distributions. Third, Wenzhounese has a double-de construction unattested in Mandarin. Based on these observations, I offer a formal analysis of the de-construction within the framework of Lexical Functional Grammar. This encompasses the lexical entries, constituent-structure, and functional-structure for de, which will capture the differences between de and bǎ and shed new light on the bǎ-construction in Mandarin.

THE FORM AND FUNCTION OF REDUPLICATION IN ENGLISH AND URDU LANGUAGES: A CROSS LINGUIST STUDY

The main concentration of this work is to look at the forms and functions of morphological doubling in syntax and it aims at to look at the functions and roles of double questions morphemes of Urdu and to make comparative analysis of Urdu and English languages. There are different types of doublings in English language e.g. adverbs doublings, semantic doubling but question doubling does not exist in English language because it is the unique feature of Urdu language only. Qualitative analysis with purposive sampling approach, with the framework of Lexical Functional grammar (LFG).through the concept of F-Structure from (LFG) theory, double morphemes will be analyzed. For this purpose, data will be collected through document analysis, standard books, articles, published researches, dictionaries and data from common users. 100 sentences, consisting of double morpheme, will be selected and same were put into F-Structure to explore their lexical structure to show the semantic functions in both languages. Simultaneously, the sentences were also analyzed syntactically in order to find out their appropriateness. The study may provide a good level of confidence to develop Urdu National Language processing (UNLP) and enlighten the phenomena that morphological doubling in Urdu used for multiple semantic functions to explore human notions and feelings as compare to any other South Asian Language because Urdu is the only language with per gram. and study will also explore the functional and dynamic aspects of LFG. Keywords: Reduplication, LFG, syntax, Double interrogative morphemes.

Causative Constructions in Modern Standard Arabic

This study aims to describe the causative constructions in modern standard Arabic (MSA) and discuss their analyses. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to discuss the causative constructions in MSA. This study shows that there are three different types of causatives in MSA: the lexical causative, the periphrastic causative, and the morphological causative. We discuss the three types of causatives in MSA and the associated thematic roles of arguments, especially the morphological causatives, where the number of arguments and their thematic roles are changed after the derivation. The role of the causee is always patient, and the role of the causer is always an agent of the event even if the basic verb requires a subject with a different role. The last section of this study presents a syntactic analysis of the three structures of causatives in MSA within the lexical functional grammar framework.

Noun class agreement in Kafire (Senufo): A Lexical-Functional Grammar account

A major challenge presented by noun class systems of Senufo languages is the non-trivial interaction between the agreement features of the noun phrase and the noun class specification on the head noun. In Kafire (Senufo, Côte d’Ivoire), demonstratives normally agree with the head noun independent of whether or not the head noun is modified by adjectives. Some adjectives, however, are exceptions to the general rule: in their presence the demonstrative appears in Class 2 or 3 (depending on the adjective), and fails to agree with the head noun. We present an account of the exceptional behavior of such adjectives within the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar. We show that agreement in Kafire is a heterogeneous phenomenon that is best viewed as transitional between a system of semantically motivated agreement and a system of noun classes that is no longer dependent on meaning. Vestiges of the old system have been preserved in a variety of phenomena that have to be addressed individually using different kinds of formal tools provided by the framework. The variety of formal devices required to describe the functioning of the agreement system reflects the complex diachrony and the cross-modal (lexico-syntactic) synchronic nature of agreement phenomena.

Akan grammatical relations revisited

Morphological case languages do not necessarily depend on word order to determine their grammatical relations. However, structural case languages depend largely on word order to determine the various grammatical relations. For most configurational languages, the agent/experiencer usually precedes the patient/theme in a simple clause (in the active voice). In the passive voice, the patient/theme occupies the subject position while the agent becomes an object of a preposition (oblique) or omitted as evident in English. Akan, a Kwa language of the Niger-Congo family, being a nominative-accusative language, allows the agent/experiencer to precede the patient/theme in the active construction. In the passive- like construction, however, unlike a language like English, an impersonal pronounoccupies the subject position while the patient or theme remains at the object position. This implies that agents/experiencers do not occur at the oblique position in Akan; neither dopatients/ themes occur at the subject position. Certain verbs (symmetrical verbs), however, may allow the experiencer and the theme arguments to switch positions in the active construction without affecting the meaning of the sentence in the language. This paper seeks to highlight these marked grammatical relations in Akan within the framework of Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG).

Gender Representation in the Lexical Functional Grammar

Gender marking is a language universal, although some languages have a stronger Gender-marking grammar. The Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG), a linguistic theory, has a set of rules and levels to render for Gender marking. Bornee and developed within the larger framework of the Generative Grammar, the Lexical Functional Grammar has become a standalone autonomous theoretical theory. This paper draws data from French language to present a comprehensive development of Gender-marking analysis within the Lexical Functional Grammar Framework. Fundamentally, the LSG posits for four phrase structures, which are the C-structure representing lexical entries, the F-structure, which deals with the functional information, the A-structure, which structures predicate-argument relationships, and the ơ-structure, which handles semantic representations. Although the grammatical gender is arrayed all over the four structures, it is mainly presented in this paper as a feature in the lexicon, typically integrated in the C-structure and F-structure mapping.

Mixed projections and syntactic categories

I explore the bases of a ‘distributionalist’ approach to syntactic categories, that is, an approach that makes distinctions on the basis of purely syntactic (as opposed to, say, semantic) criteria. I focus on the phenomenon of ‘mixed projections’, where a syntactic phrase appears to display properties of more than one syntactic category, as analysed within the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar. I argue that of the three syntactic criteria called upon in the definition of syntactic categories within this approach, only one, the internal syntactic structure of a phrase, is a sufficient criterion for syntactic categorization. This leads to a more restricted definition of category mixing and implies a more restricted approach to categorization in general.

Verb phrase external arguments in Mande

Mande languages are well-known for their rigid SOVX word order: verb phrases cannot accommodate postpositional phrases, and all oblique arguments must appear after the main verb. This study explores, based on data from Wan (Southeastern Mande), new evidence for syntactic constituency that is essential for developing a formal account of this typologically unusual pattern. First, I show that previously unexplored tonal evidence rules out argument raising accounts. Tone is sensitive in Wan to prosodic phrasing, which is in turn closely related to syntactic constituency; the way postpositional arguments are prosodically integrated into the clause points to their unusually high, clause-level attachment. Second, I argue against a base-generation analysis, which would require a serious modification of the Projection Principle and locality of selection. Third, an analysis based on obligatory extraposition is discussed as the remaining option in transformational frameworks. While accounting for both semantic and tonal evidence, the extraposition account has to rely on a highly unusual kind of filter to rule out all structures where a PP argument appears clause-internally. Accounts postulating such idiosyncratic filters can hardly be considered satisfying, as they merely model constraints on surface structure, without deriving them from underlying structural properties. The obligatory argument extraposition of Mande languages receives a more elegant explanation in constraint-based, surface-oriented theories, which do not need to introduce special devices to handle the basic word order of Mande languages. I illustrate this with a sketch of an account coached in the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar.

Developing a Computational Syntax of Sindhi Language in Lexical Functional Grammar Framework

Sindhi language lacks computational linguistics resources for deep syntactic analysis. This paper presents a work on computational morphology and grammar development of Sindhi Language. An LFG (Lexical Functional Grammar) based model for Sindhi grammar is developed where morphological constructions are modeled in Xerox Lexicon Compiler (LEXC), and syntactic constructions are modeled in LFG by using Xerox Linguistic Environment (XLE). While developing morphology and syntax of Sindhi, different part of speech classes, phrase structures, tense, aspect, mood and agreement are considered wherever applicable. The developed computational grammar is tested against two different test suites. First test suite contains 617 handcrafted sentences in 10 different test files containing sentences with different syntactic features. Second test suite contains real time corpus of two text books of Sindhi class one with 258 sentences. Results show 98.05% and 96.5% parsing percentage of test suite 1 and test suite 2 respectively.

Denominal adjectives as mixed categories

Many languages have morphological devices to turn a noun into an adjective. Often this morphology is genuinely derivational in that it adds semantic content such as ‘similar-to-N’ (similitudinal), ‘located-on/in’ (locational) and so on. In other cases the denominal adjective expresses no more than a pragmatically determined relationship, as in preposition-al phrase (see the synonymous preposition phrase), often called ‘relational adjectives’. In many languages relational adjectives are noun-to-adjective transpositions, that is, adjectival forms (‘representations’) of nominals. In some languages and constructions they retain some of the noun-related properties of the base. For example, the base can be modified by an attribute as though it were still a syntactically represented noun, giving rise to what we will call ‘syntagmatic category mixing’. We also find instances of ‘paradigmatic category mixing’ in which the derived adjectival form retains some of the inflectional morphology (case and/or number and/or possessive) of its base noun, as in a number of Uralic and Altaic languages. We address this kind of categorial mixing within the descriptive framework for lexical relatedness proposed in Spencer (2013) . A true transposition has a complex ‘semantic function’ (sf) role, consisting of the semantic function role of the derived category overlaid over that of the base. We explain how the complex semantic structure role of noun-to-adjective transpositions maps onto c-structure nodes, using the syntactic framework of Lexical Functional Grammar.

The Negation Jangan from a Lexical Functional Perspective

This paper is an investigation into the properties of the negation jangan in the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar. The analysis shows that the negation jangan can negate verbs functioning as predicate in a sentence. It follows both transitive and intransitive verbs. The constituent that fills the position in the subject is defined by the voice of the sentence. If it is in the active voice, the subject is the second person pronoun. On the other hand, if the word jangan negates passive voice, the subject is not restricted. It is possible in Indonesian sentence to have double negation because the negative adverb jangan can negatea negation tidak. It also follows adjectives, adverbs, nouns and clauses. Thenegation jangan also has a different grammatical construction when it precedesthe preposition sampai. The subject following jangan sampai is not restricted asthe subject following jangan sampai is in active voice. The word jangan can befronted to modify the whole clause.DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.2013.160105

Preliminary results from the Free Linguistic Environment project

The Free Linguistic Environment (FLE) project focuses on the development of an open and free library of natural language processing functions and a grammar engineering platform for Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) and related grammar frameworks. In its present state the code-base of FLE contains basic essential elements for LFG-parsing. It uses finite-state-based morphological analyzers and syntactic unification parsers to generate parse-trees and related functional representations for input sentences based on a grammar. It can process a variety of grammar formalisms, which can be used independently or serve as backbones for the LFG parser. Among the supported formalisms are Context-free Grammars (CFG), Probabilistic Contextfree Grammars (PCFG), and all formal grammar components of the XLEgrammar formalism. The current implementation of the LFG-parser includes the possibility to use a PCFG backbone to model probabilistic c-structures. It also includes f-structure representations that allow for the specification or calculation of probabilities for complete f-structure representations, as well as for sub-paths in f-structure trees. Given these design features, FLE enables various forms of probabilistic modeling of c-structures and f-structures for input or output sentences that go beyond the capabilities of other technologies based on the LFG framework.

English possessive ’s: clitic and affix

The English possessive marker displays properties of both clitic and affix. I argue that synchronically it is, in fact, both, rather than only one or the other or something halfway between. I show that it is possible to model the dual clitic/affix status of the possessive in the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar, and that this model is capable of accounting for the full range of constructions in which the possessive marker appears. This also has consequences for questions of English noun phrase syntax, and issues of categoriality and degrammaticalization.

Systematic mismatches: Coordination and subordination at three levels of grammar

In this paper, I analyze two clause combining strategies in Ossetic that exhibit mixed properties between coordination and subordination. I argue that the ‘mismatch approach’ proposed by Culicover & Jackendoff (1997) and Yuasa & Sadock (2002) is best suited to account for their properties. However, in order to adequately describe the behavior of these constructions in terms of the mismatch approach, appealing to three levels of grammar is required instead of two levels (syntax and semantics) discussed in previous works. This provides a clear argument in favor of models of grammar such as Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG), where the syntactic level is split between constituent structure (c-structure) and functional structure (f-structure). The properties of semantic coordination and subordination that have been proposed in earlier work mostly belong to the level of f-structure, and not semantics proper. I argue that the only substantial semantic difference between coordination and adverbial subordination is that the former introduces discourse relations between speech acts, while the latter introduces asserted predicates that link two propositions within the same speech act. I provide definitions of coordination and subordination at all the three levels of grammar formalized in terms of the LFG framework, and discuss the tests that can be used for each of these levels.

Double object constructions and the anomalous syntax of GIVE in Cantonese

The default definition for a double object construction (DOC) is almost invariably ‘a construction like the give-construction’. While the GIVE-construction may be a cross-linguistically representative example of such constructions, within Cantonese, the construction certainly displays syntactic behaviour that is anomalous. One such anomaly is that, in the GIVE-construction, the theme-object immediately follows the verb, while the recipient-object is the argument that is the furthest away from the verb. This order of objects is quite rarely found across languages. It should, however, be noted that Cantonese as a language does not have an exceptional order of non-subject arguments in DOCs, the verb bei ‘give’ in this language, and this verb only, does. The syntax of the GIVE-construction patterns with that of all other DOCs in many other respects. Proposals, couched within the Lexical-Functional Grammar framework, are offered to capture these facts.

The Negation Jangan from a Lexical Functional Perspective

This paper is an investigation into the properties of the negation jangan in the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar. The analysis shows that the negation jangan can negate verbs functioning as predicate in a sentence. It follows both transitive and intransitive verbs. The constituent that fills the position in the subject is defined by the voice of the sentence. If it is in the active voice, the subject is the second person pronoun. On the other hand, if the word jangan negates passive voice, the subject is not restricted. It is possible in Indonesian sentence to have double negation because the negative adverb jangan can negate a negation tidak. It also follows adjectives, adverbs, nouns and clauses. The negation jangan also has a different grammatical construction when it precedes the preposition sampai. The subject following jangan sampai is not restricted as the subject following jangan sampai is in active voice. The word jangan can be fronted to modify the whole clause. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.2013.160105

Antecedent-based approach to binding in Icelandic and Faroese

<p>This paper examines the standard approach to long-distance reflexives within the Lexical-Functional Grammar framework. This approach defines the binding relation between a reflexive and its non-local antecedent by prescribing the type of syntactic elements which must and must not occur along the path from the reflexive to its antecedent. However, evidence from the Insular Scandinavian languages suggests that the binding relation should be expressed as positive and negative constraints on the path from the antecedent to the reflexive. In other words, I suggest that long-distance reflexives in Icelandic and Faroese are governed by outside-in functional uncertainty, not inside-out functional uncertainty, as is standardly assumed.</p>

A typology of non-local reflexives in the Scandinavian languages

The Scandinavian languages are very closely related but also vary syntactically in interesting ways, making this family useful in the study of typology variation. In this paper the issue of non-local reflexives, or ‘long-distance reflexives’ (LDR) is investigated. New LDR data from the Scandinavian languages is presented to show that the Binding Conditions cannot account for the variation in LDR in these languages, since the range of domains that LDR may or may not occur in in each variety varies non-hierarchically. For instance, LDR in Icelandic may be bound out of a finite complement clause but not out of a relative clause, while the reverse is true in most Norwegian dialects. Faroese allows LDR out of both clause types, but many dialects do not allow a second person pronoun to co-occur in a sentence containing LDR, which does not generally affect Icelandic or Norwegian LDR. An extension of Dalrymple's (1993) typology of anaphora, which is set within the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar, can account for this data, using a combination of inside-out and outside-in functional uncertainty equations, on- and off-path constraints and positive and negative constraints, all of which refer to elements (potentially) found in functional-structure.

On the-Ássuffix: Word formation in the syntax?

In this paper I discuss Kenesei’s (2005) syntactic derivational approach to -Á s complex event nominals in Hungarian, and I compare it with previous lexicalist analyses. I demonstrate that the facts that, according to Kenesei, call for a syntactic analysis (e.g., binding and control phenomena, anti-agreement, negation, and aspect) can be captured in an appropriately developed lexicalist framework with at least the same degree of efficiency, consistency and in a sufficiently principled manner. I outline the most important aspects of such an analysis in the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar. I also point out that there are additional considerations which support a lexical treatment.