24 January: DCLRS -- Friday, January 28 -- Jamal Ouhalla
Dublin Computational Linguistics Research Seminar: Index of January 2005 | Dublin Computational Linguistics Research Seminar - Index of year: 2005 | Full index
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Speaker: Professor Jamal Ouhalla, UCD
venue: Davis Lecture Theatre (Arts Building Room 2043)
Trinity College, University of Dublin
time: 4:00-6:00, Friday, January 28, 2005.
title:
Categorisation (Parts of Speech) by Computation
abstract:
This paper outlines evidence leading to the conclusion that the
identity of certain categories reduces to one of the agreement
features they carry. In particular, the verbal identity reduces to
[PERSON], the nominal identity to [CLASS], and the neutral identity
(adjectives and participles) to [NUMBER]. Once this is taken on board,
a novel way of looking at verb-subject agreement emerges whereby it is
the reflex of a mechanism of categorisation by computation. It leads
to deletion of nominal agreement features from verbal categories and
verbal agreement features from nominal categories. A crucial component
of this approach is that some categories are endowed with the
potential (agreement features) to develop into verbal, nominal or
neutral categories depending on the context in which they are included
and the computations they undergo. This is true not only of pronouns
and some functional categories, but also Roots, assuming a Root-based
lexicon with the properties attributed to it in the Semitic tradition
and its dictionaries, i.e. a Lexicon consisting of category neutral
Roots. If lexical entries in a Root-based Lexicon include semantic and
phonetic features but no syntactic features, a basic tenet of the
Semitic tradition, the relationship between the Lexicon and the
Computational System must be mediated. The assignment of agreement
features to Roots renders them visible to the Computational System.
Dublin Computational Linguistics Research Seminar - Index of January 2005 | Index of year: 2005 | Full index