BiblioVault - Books about Lexical-functional grammar

Argument Realization

Edited by Miriam Butt and Tracy Holloway King

CSLI, 2001

Complex Predicates and Information Spreading in LFG

Avery D. Andrews and Christopher D. Manning

CSLI, 1999

This book provides a simple but precise framework for describing complex predicates and related constructions, and applies it principally to the analysis of complex predicates in Romance, and certain serial verb constructions in Tariana and Miskitu. The authors argue for replacing the projection architecture of LFG with a notion of differential information spreading within a unified feature structure. Another important feature is the use of the conception of argument-structure in Chris Manning's Ergativity to facilitate the description of how complex predicates are assembled. In both of these aspects the result is a framework that preserves the descriptive parsimony of LFG while taking on key ideas from HPSG.

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Formal Issues in Lexical-Functional Grammar

Edited by Mary Dalrymple, Ronald M. Kaplan, John Maxwell III, and Annie Zaenen

CSLI, 1994

Lexical-Functional Grammar was first developed by Joan Bresnan and Ronald M. Kaplan in the late 1970s, and was designed to serve as a medium for expressing and explaining important generalisations about the syntax of human languages and thus to serve as a vehicle for independent linguistic research. An equally important goal was to provide a restricted, mathematically tractable notation that could be interpreted by psychologically plausible and computationally efficient processing mechanisms. The formal architecture of LFG provides a simple set of devices for describing the common properties of all human languages and the particular properties of individual languages. This volume presents work conducted over the past several years at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Stanford University, and elsewhere. The different sections link mathematical and computational issues and the analysis of particular linguistic phenomena in areas such as wh-constructions, anaphoric binding, word order and coordination.

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Lectures on Contemporary Syntactic Theories

An Introduction to Government-Binding Theory, Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar, and Lexical-Function Grammar

Peter Sells

CSLI, 1985

Sells provides an introduction to the most important aspects of three major contemporary syntactic theories. A strong linguiustic background is not presupposed, and a brief introductory chapter is included for the nonlinguist. PETER SELLS is a postdoctoral research affliate at CSLI. 1/1/1985 ISBN (Paperback): 0937073148 ISBN (Cloth): 093707313X Subject: Linguistics; Grammar--Syntax; Government-Binding Theory

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Lexical Semantics in LFG

Edited by Miriam Butt and Tracy Holloway King

CSLI, 2006

Available for the first time in years, Lexical Semantics in LFG is a reissue of the groundbreaking "Papers in Lexical Functional Grammar." It spans a diverse range of topics, including Italian unaccusatives, Malayalam causatives, derived nominals, resultatives, and non-nominative subjects in Icelandic. With its emphasis on representations of lexical semantic information that allow operations on predicate-argument relations and grammatical relations to be independent of structural configurations, the text will be of interest to both scholars and students of linguistics.

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Lexical-Functional Grammar

An Introduction to Parallel Constraint-Based Syntax

Yehuda N. Falk

CSLI, 2001

With this textbook, Yehuda N. Falk provides an introduction to the theory of Lexical-Functional Grammar, aimed at both students and professionals who are familiar with other generative theories and now wish to approach LFG. Falk examines LFG's relation to more conventional theories—like Government/Binding or the Minimalism Program—and, in many respects, establishes its superiority.

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Nominals

Inside and Out

Edited by Miriam Butt and Tracy Holloway King

CSLI, 2003

Since the early 1970s, the proper treatment and nominals and nominalization has been fundamental to syntactic theory. And yet a satisfactory approach continues to prove elusive. Working within the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar, this book discusses the precise reasons why pronouns show particular distributions, why nominalized verbs inherit the predicational power of the verbs they're derived from, and what kind of syntactic category derived nominals should be assigned. Recent developments in LFG make it possible to examine discourse clitics and case markers as well, meaning this collection can address both "classic" nominal issues and novel new perspectives.

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Optimality-Theoretic Syntax

A Declarative Approach

Jonas Kuhn

CSLI, 2003

With this book, Jonas Kuhn greatly 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), Kuhn 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.

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Projecting Morphology

Edited by Louisa Sadler and Andrew Spencer

CSLI, 2003

The separation of syntax and morphology is a major principle in contemporary lexicalist theories. The syntactic theory of Lexical-Functional Grammar recognizes this separation on a structural level but argues that both are equal, interacting, and competing contributors in a functional setting. This book discusses the relationship between morphology and LFG, reintroducing two seminal papers on the theory's impact on morphology and presenting new material on current morphological issues, including the nature of morphosyntactic paradigms and the role of optimality theory.

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