Introducing HPSG, part 1

HPSG Introduction

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/rvogel/ws0607/synfolien/hpsg-lehrbuch.pdf

adaptation using http://lingro.com and http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de

[and maybe Google Translate]

1.10 /classification of HPSG

HPSG has the ff: qualities: it is a lexicalist theory, that means the essential elements of the linguistic connections/coherencies are found in the descriptions of words [but also constructions]. HPSG is sign-based in the sense of Saussure (1916), that means signifier and signified of linguistic signs are always represented together. Typed feature structures like (64) are used for modeling all relevant information. Lexicon entries, phrases and principles are all described with the same formal /mechanism. Generalizations about word classes and rule schemas are realised through an inheritance hierarchy. HPSG is a monostratal theory, that means Phonology, Syntax and Semantics are described in a single structure [that means that although there are different levels of information, each type of information is only represented only once; in contrast, transformation grammar theories represent the same information several times before and after each transformation or movement]. There are no separate description layers/levels unlike, for example, GB theory. (64) shows and extract of the representation of the Word Grammatik.

[]

You can see from this example that this feature description contains information about phonology, syntactic category and semantic contribution for the word Grammatik. The meaning of the italicized words and numbered boxes, why the information is structured the way it is, and how such a lexicon entry works with rule schemas will all be /shown/explained in the following chapters.

1.11  The /underlying the data

...

2. The Formalism

This chapter introduces feature structures, which are used in modeling all linguistic objects. [...] Feature structures are complex /shapes that model all qualities of a linguistic object. A linguist usually works with a feature description, that illustrates only an /extract of the feature structure. The difference between model and description will be made precise in Section 2.7. Another term for feature description is attribute-value matrix. [...] I try to limit the formal part of this book to what is absolutely necessary. Interested readers should consult Shieber (1986), Pollard

and Sag (1987), Johnson (1988), Carpenter (1992), King (1994) and Richter (2004). Shieber's book presents a readable introduction to unification grammars. King and Richter's work present the important foundations of HPSG that will remain inaccessible the non-mathematician. The important thing is to know that this work exists, and that the theory rests on a firm foundation.