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This problem was addressed in the 1980s by Gazdar and others, under
the heading of "ID/LP grammars" (e.g. GPSG; see <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ID/LP_grammar">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ID/LP_grammar</a>).<br>
<br>
The Wikipedia article gives an English example of the type "X C Y/X
Y C":<br>
<br>
<i>John suddenly screamed / John screamed suddenly.</i><br>
<br>
The proposal here is to have two ID ("immediate dominance") rules,
where the comma notation shows that nothing is said about the
ordering:<br>
<br>
S –> NP, VP<br>
VP –> V, Adv<br>
<br>
plus separate LP ("linear precedence") rules, e.g.<br>
<br>
NP < VP<br>
(but not: V < Adv/Adv < V, because either order is possible,
and no rule is needed)<br>
<br>
More generally, I find the following kind of notation fairly
transparent (where NM stands for "nominal (expression)"):<br>
<br>
PP: [P – NM], e.g. "in the house"<br>
N: [Adj – N – ed], e.g. "blue-eye-d"<br>
S: [NM, V, Adv], e.g. German "hier wohnt Maria/Maria wohnt hier"
('Here lives Maria/Maria lives here')<br>
<br>
In other words, a dash signals fixed precedence, while a comma
signals cooccurrence in a constituent/syntagma without positional
entailments.<br>
<br>
Martin<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Am 20.12.20 um 11:23 schrieb Christian
Lehmann:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:376eb62d-92a7-a24f-a910-fcc431085623@Uni-Erfurt.De">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<p>Dear all,</p>
<p>Guillermo González Campos and I are garnishing our (future)
Cabecar grammar with formulas of syntactic structure. Each
representation layer (like "structural", "semantic", ...) is
one-dimensional. The structural layer involves symbols
representing significative components plus indexed brackets.
Some constructions comprise a component <font color="#990000">C</font>
which is obligatory, but may occur in different positions.
Sometimes a "basic" position may be identified, of which other
positions are optional permutations. If so, I can provide a
formula for the basic position and add a prose sentence on the
variation. Now suppose there is no such basic position. A
possibility of representing such a state of affairs is to
provide a construction formula for each of the variants, like:</p>
<p>X <font color="#990000">C</font> Y</p>
<p>X Y <font color="#990000">C</font></p>
<p>Rather space-consuming and less than elegant. Is there a
notation which allows one to write something like</p>
<p>X <font color="#990000">C</font> Y <font color="#990000">C</font></p>
<p>to mean that <font color="#990000">C</font> can and must
occupy either of the two positions? (Ordinary parentheses would
not work, in my view, as they imply optionality.)<br>
</p>
<p>Thanks for advice,</p>
<p>Christian<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<p style="font-size:90%">Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann<br>
Rudolfstr. 4<br>
99092 Erfurt<br>
<span style="font-variant:small-caps">Deutschland</span></p>
<table style="font-size:80%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Tel.:</td>
<td>+49/361/2113417</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>E-Post:</td>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:christianw_lehmann@arcor.de"
moz-do-not-send="true">christianw_lehmann@arcor.de</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Web:</td>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.christianlehmann.eu"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.christianlehmann.eu</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
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<br>
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<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Martin Haspelmath
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
D-04103 Leipzig
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.shh.mpg.de/employees/42385/25522">https://www.shh.mpg.de/employees/42385/25522</a></pre>
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