Abstract It is a well-known fact of computational linguistics that syntax is mildly context-sensitive and thus highly complex —- certainly more complex than phonology or morphology. This complexity is at odds with the ease of language acquisition and the impressive speed of human sentence …
More Output
- read more
The Surprising Simplicity of Syntax: Derivation Trees, Subregular Complexity, and What It Implies for Language and Cognition
read moreAbstract It is a well-known fact of computational linguistics that syntax is mildly context-sensitive and thus highly complex —- certainly more complex than phonology or morphology. This complexity is at odds with the ease of language acquisition and the impressive speed of human sentence …
Sanskrit N-Retroflexion Is Input-Output Tier-Based Strictly Local
read moreAbstract Sanskrit /n/-retroflexion is one of the most complex segmental processes in phonology. While it is still star-free, it does not fit in any of the subregular classes that are commonly entertained in the literature. We show that when …
Sanskrit N-Retroflexion Is Input-Output Tier-Based Strictly Local
read moreAbstract Sanskrit /n/-retroflexion is one of the most complex segmental processes in phonology. While it is still star-free, it does not fit in any of the subregular classes that are commonly entertained in the literature. We show that when …
Adjunction to Movement Paths: Floating Quantifiers as the Little Brother of Parasitic Gaps
read moreAbstract A lot of recent work in computational phonology seeks to pinpoint the complexity of phonotactic dependencies from a formal perspective. Numerous mathematical classes have been proposed, but Graf (2017) subsumes them all under the umbrella of interval-based strictly piecewise dependencies (IBSP). IBSP …
Tiers and Relativized Locality Across Language Modules
read moreAbstract Heinz and Idsardi (2013) draw attention to a profound computational difference between syntax and phonology: phonology only requires regular computations over strings (Johnson 1972 …
- read more
Abstract A lot of recent work in computational phonology seeks to pinpoint the complexity of phonotactic dependencies from a formal perspective. Numerous mathematical classes have been proposed, but Graf (2017) subsumes them all under the umbrella of interval-based strictly piecewise dependencies (IBSP). IBSP treats all …
Locality Domains and Phonological c-Command over Strings
read moreAbstract A lot of recent work in computational phonology seeks to pinpoint the complexity of phonotactic dependencies from a formal perspective. Numerous mathematical classes have been proposed, but Graf (2017) subsumes them all under the umbrella of interval-based strictly piecewise dependencies (IBSP). IBSP …
Syntax in Phonology? C-Command over Strings
It’s a (Sub-)Regular Conspiracy: Locality and Computation in Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, and Semantics
read moreAbstract It is commonly believed that phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics are distinct modules of language, governed by very different principles with little common ground. Nonetheless several approaches (e.g. Government Phonology, Distributed Morphology) subscribe to the idea that at least some of …
The Power of Locality Domains in Phonology
read moreAbstract Domains play an integral role in linguistic theories. This paper combines locality domains with current work on the computational complexity of phonology. The first result is that if a specific formalism —- Strictly Piecewise (SP) grammars —- is supplemented with a mechanism to enforce …
Fragments of First-Order Logic for Linguistic Structures
read moreAbstract Logic has always played a central role in the study of natural language meaning. But logic can also be used to describe the structure of words and sentences. Recent research has revealed that these structures are so simple that they can be …
Computational Parallels Across Language Modules
read moreAbstract Linguists study a variety of aspects of language, including phonology, morphology, and syntax. It is commonly believed that those are distinct modules of language, governed by very different principles and consequently studied with very different tools. While there have been attempts at …
Computational Lessons from and for Language
read moreAbstract Barely any task is more challenging and more effortlessly carried out by humans than the efficient use of language. Within a couple of years, children figure out a learning problem that even computers with large, extensively annotated training sets fail at. On …
Computational Unity Across Language Modules
read moreAbstract Computational linguistics is often construed as the enterprise of processing language with computers. But the field has much more to offer than just that. A computationally informed perspective of language offers profound scientific insights and can unearth new language universals. In this …
Syntax and Phonology: A Computational Common Core
Files
read more@Misc{Graf15StPetetalk, author = {Graf, Thomas}, title = {Syntax and Phonology: {A} Computational Common Core}, year = {2015}, note = {Department of Mathematical Linguistics, Saint Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia} }
Commonality in Disparity: The Computational View of Syntax and Phonology
read moreAbstract Heinz and Idsardi (2013) draw attention to a computational difference between syntax and phonology established by earlier research: phonology only requires regular computations over strings (Johnson 1972, Kaplan and Kay 1995), whereas syntax involves non-regular computations over strings (Chomsky …
Dependencies in Syntax and Phonology: A Computational Comparison
Beyond the Apparent: Cognitive Parallels Between Syntax and Phonology
read moreAbstract One of the central changes in 20th century linguistics was the reconceptualization of language as a cognitive ability rather than merely an abstract relational system of signs —- in the terminology of Chomsky (1986), the move from E-language to I-language. This shift entails …
Computational Computational Linguistics
Logics of Phonological Reasoning
read moreAbstract Inspired by Kracht (2003) and Potts and Pullum (2002), who use tools from mathematical logic in their investigation of phonological theories, I develop an extendable modal logic over string structures, which in turn is used to formalize a specific phonological theory, Government …
Formal Parameters of Phonology: From Government Phonology to SPE
read moreAbstract Inspired by the model-theoretic approach to phonology deployed by Kracht (2003) and Potts and Pullum (2002), I develop an extendable modal logic for the investigation of phonological theories operating on (richly annotated) string structures. In contrast to previous research in this vein …
Comparing Incomparable Frameworks: A Model Theoretic Approach to Phonology
read moreAbstract In previous work, we used techniques from mathematical logic and model theory to study and compare two phonological theories, SPE and Government Phonology. The surprising result was that Government Phonology corresponds to a very weak fragment of SPE, yet it can attain …
Towards a Factorization of String-Based Phonology
read moreAbstract Inspired by the model-theoretic approach to phonology deployed by Kracht (2003) and Potts and Pullum (2002), I develop an extendible modal logic for the investigation of phonological theories operating on (richly annotated) string structures. In contrast to previous research in this vein …
Towards a Factorization of String-Based Phonology
read moreAbstract Inspired by the model-theoretic approach to phonology deployed by Kracht (2003) and Potts and Pullum (2002), I develop an extendible modal logic for the investigation of phonological theories operating on (richly annotated) string structures. In contrast to previous research in this vein …
Comparing Incomparable Frameworks —- a Model Theoretic Approach to Phonology
read moreAbstract In previous work, we used techniques from mathematical logic and model theory to study and compare two phonological theories, SPE and Government Phonology. The surprising result was that Government Phonology corresponds to a very weak fragment of SPE, yet it can attain …