Dynamic syntax
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.
Tugwell, David
Dynamic syntax. 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.
dynamic_syntax present model natural_language syntax dynamic_system define possible transition set state model inherently left right nature state represent grow interpretation sentence syntactic_rule specify way interpretation give next word string first_part address_question use model linguistics standard argument modularity process language_comprehension argue nevertheless model syntactic competence open objective evaluation embed overall model performance argue dynamic formulation competence grammar ensure transparent relation know language_comprehension particular incremental nature show need level independent syntactic_structure either constituent dependency_based thus parsimonious propose_model syntactic_rule form autonomous system make direct_reference grow interpretation thus distinguish model incremental approach