[Lingtyp] syntactic construction formula

[Christian Lehmann]

Ad Martin's proposal:

If I have paired ID and LP rules, this device appears to be sufficient. 
If not, then a notation like [NM, V, Adv] does not indicate that V here 
has a fixed position, while NM and Adv may swap their position.

In order not to frustrate anybody, I should make it clearer that I had 
in mind cases where there is some component C which may occur in 
different places in a clause. Thus, I not only have XCY and XYC, but 
also CXY and (adding some Z) possibly even more orderings, where XY(Z) 
form a rather tight construction, but C may be positioned "anywhere". 
This is the case of certain particles in Cabecar. What is a good 
construction formula for such a particle? Or may be the combination of 
the particle with the simpler construction is not even a "construction"?
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Am 20.12.20 um 13:56 schrieb Martin Haspelmath:
> This problem was addressed in the 1980s by Gazdar and others, under 
> the heading of "ID/LP grammars" (e.g. GPSG; see 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ID/LP_grammar).
>
> The Wikipedia article gives an English example of the type "X C Y/X Y C":
>
> /John suddenly screamed / John screamed suddenly./
>
> The proposal here is to have two ID ("immediate dominance") rules, 
> where the comma notation shows that nothing is said about the ordering:
>
> S –> NP, VP
> VP –> V, Adv
>
> plus separate LP ("linear precedence") rules, e.g.
>
> NP < VP
> (but not: V < Adv/Adv < V, because either order is possible, and no 
> rule is needed)
>
> More generally, I find the following kind of notation fairly 
> transparent (where NM stands for "nominal (expression)"):
>
> PP: [P – NM], e.g. "in the house"
> N: [Adj – N – ed], e.g. "blue-eye-d"
> S: [NM, V, Adv], e.g. German "hier wohnt Maria/Maria wohnt hier" 
> ('Here lives Maria/Maria lives here')
>
> In other words, a dash signals fixed precedence, while a comma signals 
> cooccurrence in a constituent/syntagma without positional entailments.
>
> Martin
>
>
> Am 20.12.20 um 11:23 schrieb Christian Lehmann:
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> 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 C 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:
>>
>> X C Y
>>
>> X Y C
>>
>> Rather space-consuming and less than elegant. Is there a notation 
>> which allows one to write something like
>>
>> X C Y C
>>
>> to mean that C can and must occupy either of the two positions? 
>> (Ordinary parentheses would not work, in my view, as they imply 
>> optionality.)
>>
>> Thanks for advice,
>>
>> Christian
>>
>> -- 
>>
>> Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann
>> Rudolfstr. 4
>> 99092 Erfurt
>> Deutschland
>>
>> Tel.: 	+49/361/2113417
>> E-Post: 	christianw_lehmann at arcor.de
>> Web: 	https://www.christianlehmann.eu
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>
> -- 
> Martin Haspelmath
> Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
> Deutscher Platz 6
> D-04103 Leipzig
> https://www.shh.mpg.de/employees/42385/25522
>
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-- 

Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann
Rudolfstr. 4
99092 Erfurt
Deutschland

Tel.: 	+49/361/2113417
E-Post: 	christianw_lehmann at arcor.de
Web: 	https://www.christianlehmann.eu

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