Dynamics, dependency grammar and incremental interpretation

Abstract

The paper describes two equivalent grammatical formalisms. The first is a lexicalised version of dependeney grammar, and this can be used to provide tree-structured analyses of sentences (though some-what flatter than those usually provided by phrase structure grammars). The second is a new formalism, 'Dynamic Dependency Grammar', which uses axioms and deduction rules to provide analyses of sentences in terms of transitions between states.A reformulation of dependency grammar using state transitions is of interest on several grounds. Firstly, it can be used to show that incremental interpretation is possible without requiring notions of overlapping, or flexible constituency (as in some versions of categorial grammar), and without destroying a transparent link between syntax and semantics. Secondly, the reformulation provides a level of description which can act as an intermediate stage between the original grammar and a parsing algorithm. Thirdly, it is possible to extend the reformulated grammars with further axioms and deduction rules to provide coverage of syntactic constructions such as coordination which are difficult to encode lexically.

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