Structural Underspecification and Resolution within a Processing-oriented Grammar Formalism

摘要

A challenge to modeling incrementality in language processing is posed by complex NPs in some verb-final languages, where a parser does not see whether a clause that a parser currently processes is part of a complex NP and how deeply it is embedded. These indeterminacies are handled by structural underspecification and resolution within Dynamic Syntax. This article points out that the previous implementation of the mechanism faces a formal problem of introducing indistinguishable nodes into the tree, and proposes a solution by letting a parser determine node-addresses flexibly. Concrete analyses are given to Japanese relatives as a case of complex NPs in verb-final languages.