13 February: DCLRS -- Henk Zeevat, February 15, 4pm.
Dublin Computational Linguistics Research Seminar: Index of February 2002 | Dublin Computational Linguistics Research Seminar - Index of year: 2002 | Full index
| Dublin Computational Linguistics Research Seminar |
| DCLRS 2001/2002 |
| DCU TCD UCD |
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venue: Davis Lecture Theatre (Arts Building Room 2043)
Trinity College
time: 4:00-6:00, Friday, February 15
speaker: Henk Zeevat
Universiteit van Amsterdam
title: A Functional Reinterpretation of Syntactic Alignment
abstract:
Judith Aissen in two influential papers offers an
optimality theoretic account of a vast number of
complicated morphological and syntactic data in a
great number of languages, using the operation of
harmonic alignment between grammatical functions and
prominence hierarchies.
The paper offers the beginnings of an alternative
approach in bidirectional OT to these phenomena as
well as corpus research to underpin this alternative
explanation. This account starts from the need of
interpreting NPs as filling grammatical categories in
the sentences in which they occur and the influence of
probabilistic bias of this part of the interpretation
process. The typological diversity of the subject and
object marking devices employed by natural languages
needs an additional mechanism where semantically
necessary marking gets reinterpreted as generation
rules.
The talk will introduce Aissen's work and explain and
underpin the alternative account and explore some
directions in which this line of reasoning can be
further developed.
The Dublin Computational Linguistics Research Seminar series is run
jointly by DCU (Dublin City University), TCD (Trinity College Dublin)
and UCD (University College Dublin).
The 2001/2002 seminar series is hosted by Trinity College with the
support of the Department of Computer Science, the Centre for Language
and Communication Studies, the Department of Germanic Studies, the
School of Irish, the Department of French and the Centre for Computing
and Language Studies.
For an indication of parts of recent seminar contents, see:
http://www.cs.tcd.ie/research_groups/clg/DCLRS.html
Dublin Computational Linguistics Research Seminar - Index of February 2002 | Index of year: 2002 | Full index