Strong Generative Capacity: The Semantics of Linguistic Formalism (Paperback)

Philip Miller

ISBN 10: 157586214X / ISBN 13: 9781575862149

Published by Center for the Study of Language and Informat, Stanford, 2001

About this Item

Paperback. The concept of 'strong generative capacity' (SGC) of a linguistic formalism was introduced by Chomsky in the early sixties in order to characterize descriptive capacity. However, the original definition proposed by Chomsky turned out to be unusable, especially when one wished to compare the SGC of different types of formalisms. This book provides for the first time a rigorous and useful characterization of SGC, defining it as the model theoretic semantics of linguistic formalism. Specifically, abstract interpretation domains are defined in theory-neutral set-theoretical terms, and the SGC of a theory with respect to a given interpretation domain is characterized as the range of a specific interpretation function mapping structural descriptions of that theory into elements of that domain. Interpretation domains are defined for such notions as labeled constituency, dependency, endocentricity and linking and applied to the analysis of a range of linguistic formalisms, among which context-free grammars, dependency grammars, X-bar grammars, tree-adjoining grammars, transformational grammars and categorial grammars. The concept of "strong generative capacity" (SGC) of a linguistic formalism was introduced by Chomsky in the early sixties in order to characterize descriptive capacity. However, the original definition proposed by Chomsky turned out to be unusable, especially when one wished to compare the SGC of different types of formalisms. This book provides for the first time a rigorous and useful characterization of SGC, defining it as the model theoretic semantics of linguistic formalism. The book begins by reviewing classical definitions of weak and strong generative capacity. An in-depth discussion of how abstract interpretation domains are defined in theory-neutral set-theoretical terms is presented. The book also explains how interpretation domains are defined for labeled constituency, dependency, endocentricity, and linking, and applied to the analysis of a range of linguistic formalisms, among which are context-free grammars, dependency grammars, X-bar grammars, tree-adjoining grammars, transformational grammars and categorial grammars. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781575862149

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Strong Generative Capacity: The Semantics of Linguistic Formalism (Paperback)
• Publisher: Center for the Study of Language and Informat, Stanford
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 157586214X
• ISBN 13: 9781575862149
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

The concept of "strong generative capacity" (SGC) of a linguistic formalism was introduced by Chomsky in the early sixties in order to characterize descriptive capacity. However, the original definition proposed by Chomsky turned out to be unusable, especially when one wished to compare the SGC of different types of formalisms.

This book provides for the first time a rigorous and useful characterization of SGC, defining it as the model theoretic semantics of linguistic formalism. The book begins by reviewing classical definitions of weak and strong generative capacity. An in-depth discussion of how abstract interpretation domains are defined in theory-neutral set-theoretical terms is presented. The book also explains how interpretation domains are defined for labeled constituency, dependency, endocentricity, and linking, and applied to the analysis of a range of linguistic formalisms, among which are context-free grammars, dependency grammars, X-bar grammars, tree-adjoining grammars, transformational grammars and categorial grammars.

Book Description

This book provides for the first time a rigorous and useful characterization of the Chomskyan concept of 'strong generative capacity' (SGC), defining it as the model theoretic semantics of linguistic formalism. The SGC of a theory with respect to a given interpretation domain is characterized as the range of a specific interpretation function.