Grammars of properties on constraint for the automatic treatment of natural languages (Q2719323)

Linguistic analysis is understood here as the possibility to test, for a given input, the validity of the syntactic information expressed by means of some relations. Syntactic analysis is conceived as a process of satisfaction of constraints. A grammar is composed of a set of constraints referring to the manipulated objects (here, the categories). It is shown that for GPSG (Generalized Phrase Structure Grammars) and HPSG (Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammars) the existing theories don't permit a dissociation of constraints from their objects.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEThe aim of a Grammar of Properties (GP) is to represent the totality of the syntactic information by means of properties. Such grammars are purely declarative. Each property is a constraint concerning one or several categories. So, we can speak of a theory based on constraints. One of the main advantages of this theory is that the linguistic description does not need a particular operational apparatus. The fact that a GP is based on constraints is not only a formal feature, but also one having an impact on the linguistic analysis, permitting to characterize a statement irrespective its form. The notion of grammaticality (associated with the generative approach) is replaced in a GP by the notion of characterization (conceived as a set of relations between objects). Situated at the crossroad of descriptive linguistic and formal linguistics, GP seems to be well-suited to the description of language and to its various applications related to man-machine communication and to the information processing.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEThe book is organized in five chapters, a bibliography of about 130 titles and an index of terms. Chapter 1 gives an introduction and discusses the notion of a constraint and the objectives of linguistic analysis. Chapter 2 proposes a discussion of GPSG, HPSG and optimality theory in respect to constraints. In Chapter 3 the GPs are presented. Implantation, the analysis of constraints, surface analysis (filtering in GP), deep analysis (the satisfaction of constraints in a GP), processing of ambiguities are the object of Chapter 4. The integration prosody/syntax and a general evaluation are considered in Chapter 5.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEThe book is addressing students and researchers at the crossroad of linguistics and computer science. Its English translation would be very useful.