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In the last few years categorial grammars have been the focus of dramatically expanded interest and activity, both theoretical and computational. This book, the first introduction to categorical grammars, is written as an objective critical assessment. Categorial grammars offer a radical alternative to the phrase-structure paradigm, with deep roots in the philosophy of language, logic and algebra. Mary McGee Wood outlines their historical evolution and discusses their formal basis, starting with a quasi-canonical core and considering a number of possible extensions. She also explores their treatment of a number of linguistic phenomena, including passives, raising, discontinuous dependencies and non-constituent coordination, as well as such general issues as word order, logic, psychological plausibility and parsing.
This introduction to categorial grammars will be of interest to final year undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers in current theories of grammar, including comparative, descriptive, and computational linguistics.
List of contents
1. Introduction 1.1. Underlying principles 1.2. Practical basics 1.3. Notational variants 1.4. Further reading 2. A brief history 2.1. The evolution of linguistic theory 2.2. Origins of the formalist enterprise 2.3. Origins of categorial grammar 2.3.1. Mathematics 2.3.2. Natural language syntax 2.3.3. Formal semantics 2.4. Synthesis and renaissance 2.5. Further reading 3. Classical categorial grammar: the Lambek calculus 3.1. Application 3.2. Associativity 3.3. Composition 3.4. Raising 3.5. Division 3.6. Further reading 4. Generalized categorial grammars 4.1. Extending the set of ‘atomic’ categories 4.2. Extending the set of connectives 4.3. Extending the set of rules 4.3.1. Recursion 4.3.2. Permutation 4.3.3. Contraction and expansion 4.4. Combinatory categorial grammar 4.5. Unification categorial grammars 4.6. Further reading 5. Current practice 5.1. Phonology 5.2. Morphology 5.3. Syntax 5.3.1. Passives 5.3.2. ‘Raising’ and ‘control’ 5.3.3. Curious dependencies: unbounded, discontinuous, multiple and crossing 5.3.4. Coordination 5.3.5. Gapping 6. Current issues 6.1. Semantics 6.2. Word order 6.3. Language universals and psychological plausibility 6.4. Logic 6.5. Complexity 6.6. Parsing 7. Overview and prospect.
About the author
Mary McGee Wood
