Abstract 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 the full expressivity of the latter through more powerful mechanisms of feature spreading. An issue that we didn’t elaborate on, however, is the question of what this increase in expressivity buys us in terms of empirical coverage, which we pick up in this paper. Again making good use of our model theoretic techniques, we investigate two phonological phenomena —- Sanskrit n-retroflexion and primary stress assignment in Creek and Cairene Arabic —- and show how much power feature spreading has to be granted in any descriptively adequate account which does not invoke additional technical machinery. These technical results are accompanied by reflections on the relation between empirically minded theory comparisons and the model theoretic approach.

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Thu 01 January 2026 | in Papers |
| phonology | syntax | subregular hierarchy | formal language theory | cognitive architecture | automata |

Abstract 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 that linguistic …
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Fri 15 December 2017 | in Presentations |
| subregular hierarchy | syntax | tiers | selection | movement | adjunction | islands |
Abstract Two linguistic findings are commonly taken for granted yet are anything but trivial:
1. Phrases can be displaced from their base position.
2. Some phrases block displacement.
On a technical level, these properties are hashed out in terms of movement and islands. From a naive perspective …
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Fri 15 December 2017 | in Presentations |
| subregular hierarchy | semantics | typology | tiers | monotonicity |

Abstract Even though languages are capable of expressing very complex generalized quantifiers such as all but seven and an even number of, the range of possible meanings for monomorphemic determiners seems to be limited to every, no, some, and numerals. In this talk, I argue …
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Sat 22 July 2017 | in Presentations |
| subregular hierarchy | semantics | quantifiers | typology | tiers |

Abstract Semantic automata were developed to compare the complexity of generalized quantifiers based on the complexity of the string languages that describe their truth conditions. An important point that has gone unnoticed so far is that the generated string languages are remarkably simple for monomorphemic …
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Fri 26 May 2017 | in Presentations |
| phonology | morphology | syntax | morphosemantics | subregular hierarchy | tiers |

Abstract 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 these language …
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Mon 24 April 2017 | in Presentations |
| phonology | morphology | syntax | semantics | morphosemantics | subregular hierarchy | logic | tiers |

Abstract 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 modeled with …
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Mon 12 September 2016 | in Presentations |
| phonology | morphology | syntax | subregular hierarchy | formal language theory | tiers | locality | typology |

Abstract 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 unification (e …
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Thu 11 August 2016 | in Presentations |
| morphology | subregular hierarchy | formal language theory | tiers | locality | typology | English | German | Russian | Swahili | Ilocano |

Abstract It is commonly accepted that morphological dependencies are finite-state in nature. We argue that the upper bound on morphological expressivity is much lower. Drawing on technical results from computational phonology, we show that a variety of morphotactic phenomena are tier-based strictly local and do …
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Wed 27 July 2016 | in Papers |
| morphology | subregular hierarchy | formal language theory | tiers | locality | typology | English | German | Russian | Swahili | Ilocano |

Abstract It is commonly accepted that morphological dependencies are finite-state in nature. We argue that the upper bound on morphological expressivity is much lower. Drawing on technical results from computational phonology, we show that a variety of morphotactic phenomena are tier-based strictly local and do …
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:::bibtex
@Misc{Graf14NECPHONtalk,
  author    = {Graf, Thomas},
  title     = {Dependencies in Syntax and Phonology: {A} Computational
          Comparison},
  year      = {2014},
  note      = {Slides of a talk given at {NECPHON 2014}, November 15,
          NYU, New York, New York.}
}

Sat 16 August 2014 | in Papers |
| Minimalist grammars | adjunction | model-theoretic syntax | MSO | derivation trees | subregular hierarchy |

Abstract Three closely related proposals for adding (cyclic) adjunction to Minimalist grammars are given model-theoretic definitions and investigated with respect to their linguistic and formal properties. While they differ with respect to their linguistic adequacy, they behave largely the same on a computational level. Weak …
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Sat 16 August 2014 | in Presentations |
| Minimalist grammars | adjunction | model-theoretic syntax | MSO | derivation trees | subregular hierarchy |

Abstract Three closely related proposals for adding (cyclic) adjunction to Minimalist grammars are given model-theoretic definitions and investigated with respect to their linguistic and formal properties. While they differ with respect to their linguistic adequacy, they behave largely the same on a computational level. Weak …
read more

Files [pdf]

:::bibtex
@Misc{Graf13StonyBrookCogScitalk,
  author    = {Graf, Thomas},
  title     = {Computational Computational Linguistics},
  year      = {2013},
  note      = {Invited talk, December 4, Department of Psychology, Stony
          Brook University, Stony Brook, NY}
}

Sat 06 August 2011 | in Papers |
| Minimalist grammars | locality | subregular hierarchy | first-order logic | model-theoretic syntax | tree automata |

Abstract Minimalist grammars provide a formalization of Minimalist syntax which allows us to study how the components of said theory affect its expressivity. A central concern of Minimalist syntax is the locality of the displacement operation Move. In Minimalist grammars, however, Move is unbounded. This …
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Sat 06 August 2011 | in Presentations |
| Minimalist grammars | locality | subregular hierarchy | first-order logic | model-theoretic syntax | tree automata |

Abstract Minimalist grammars provide a formalization of Minimalist syntax which allows us to study how the components of said theory affect its expressivity. A central concern of Minimalist syntax is the locality of the displacement operation Move. In Minimalist grammars, however, Move is unbounded. This …
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Sun 22 August 2010 | in Papers |
| phonology | generative capacity | subregular hierarchy | Sanskrit | Cairene Arabic | Creek | primary stress | modal logic | Government phonology | SPE |

Abstract 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 Phonology. Building …
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Tue 28 July 2009 | in Papers |
| phonology | generative capacity | constraints | modal logic | Government Phonology | SPE | subregular hierarchy |

Abstract 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 (Russell 1993 …
read more
Tue 28 July 2009 | in Presentations |
| phonology | generative capacity | constraints | modal logic | Government Phonology | SPE | subregular hierarchy |

Abstract 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 (Russell 1993 …
read more

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