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Towards a Formal Description of NPI-licensing Patterns
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In: Proceedings of the Society for Computation in Linguistics (2018)
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Abstract:
This paper is a formal study of a simplified version of Negative Polarity Item (NPI) licensing requirements in two languages, English and Hungarian. In the framework of Model-Theoretic Syntax, using logical formalisms defined over tree-languages, I show that neither pattern can be described with Tier-based Strictly Local (TSL) constraints only, and suggest that they need a more complex logical formula. In particular, Hungarian patterns can be described using a combination of Tier-based Strictly 2-Local constraints over dominance relations and Locally 1-Testable constraints over the left-of relations between nodes. For English, there are no sufficient local constraints, either with or without tiers. As part of the analysis, I give a definition of a generalized tree-language that uses Tier-based 2-Local constraints over dominance relations, while it remains underspecified for left-of relations.
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Keyword:
Computational Linguistics; formal language theory; model-theoretic syntax; NPI-licensing; subregular hierarchy; syntax
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URL: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/scil/vol1/iss1/17
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1029&context=scil
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