Abstract: Many natural languages exhibit a much higher degree of freedom than English in the orderingof constituents within a clause. In order to use these so-called 'free word order' languages in natural language processing applications, we need grammar models that are adequate from both a linguistic and a computational point of view. I examine Slovene, one such language, and propose that it is best treated by flattening the traditional hierarchical syntactic structure. I argue that there is little empirical evidence for the finite verb phrase constituent in the clause, and I show that several problems disappear if this assumption is rejected. Instead, I present a model whereby the verb combines with its subject and other complements in a single step. In both finite and nonfinite clauses, there is only one verbal projection in the syntactic structure. The clause structure is described within the constraint-based formalism of Headdriven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG) which is not confined to binary branching and which includes separate specifications of immediate dominance and linear precedence. This analysis of the Slovene clause avoids discontinuous constituency and it accounts for the invariable second position of the clitic cluster by local linear precedence canstraints. f discuss some computationd consequences and suggest that the weakened structural constraints do not necessarily result in less efficient parsing. I show how an existing chart parser for NPSG can be adapted to process grammars of this kind.
Publication Year: 1993
Publication Date: 1993-01-01
Language: en
Type: dissertation
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