[HPSG-L] relation between Formal Grammar of Human Language and CFG

[Stefan Müller]

Dear Roussanka,

The general insight from the eightees was that human language is not 
context free. Some people call it mildly context-sensitive. Since GPSG 
was constructed to be context free, people were looking for something 
more powerful and abandoned it in favoure of GPSG. This taken together 
with a more lexical view resulted in HPSG, which has exactly the right 
generative capacity: It has Turing power. =:-)

While CCG and TAG people will tell you that this is way too powerful, 
HPSGians usually have a different view. The formalism should not be 
constraining but the theory formulated within the formalism has to be as 
restrictive as possible. Carl Pollard argued for this in a paper.

The whole discussion and references can be found in the HPSG handbook 
and in my Grammar Theory textbook. I have a (brief) chapter on 
generative power (Chapter 17):

https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/259

https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/287

Geoff Pullum has a good paper on the history of the discussion. All 
referenced from with in the book.

Best

     Stefan


Am 05.08.22 um 14:24 schrieb Roussanka Loukanova:
> Dear All,
>
> What is the verdict on the relations between Formal Grammar of Human
> Language and Context-Free Grammar (CFG) of Chomsky hierarchy on formal
> grammars and languages?
>
> I would appreciate very much, opinions, points to research and, especially,
> bibliographical references.
>
> Best Regards,
> Roussanka
> _______________________________________________
> HPSG-L mailing list
> HPSG-L at listserv.linguistlist.org
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hpsg-l