Towards a Formal Description of NPI-licensing Patterns
- Mai Ha Vu (University of Delaware)
Abstract
This paper is a formal study of a simplified version of Negative Polarity Item (NPI) licensing requirements in two languages, English and Hungarian. In the framework of Model-Theoretic Syntax, using logical formalisms defined over tree-languages, I show that neither pattern can be described with Tier-based Strictly Local (TSL) constraints only, and suggest that they need a more complex logical formula. In particular, Hungarian patterns can be described using a combination of Tier-based Strictly 2-Local constraints over dominance relations and Locally 1-Testable constraints over the left-of relations between nodes. For English, there are no sufficient local constraints, either with or without tiers. As part of the analysis, I give a definition of a generalized tree-language that uses Tier-based 2-Local constraints over dominance relations, while it remains underspecified for left-of relations.
Keywords: syntax, formal language theory, model-theoretic syntax, NPI-licensing, subregular hierarchy
How to Cite:
Vu, M., (2018) “Towards a Formal Description of NPI-licensing Patterns”, Society for Computation in Linguistics 1(1), 154-163. doi: https://doi.org/10.7275/R5DF6PDP
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