Dynamics, Dependency Grammar And Incremental Interpretation

The paper describes two equiwtlent grammatical formalisnLs. The first is a lexicalised version of depen dency grammar, and this can be nsed to provide tree-structured analyses of sentences (though somewhat tlatter than those usually provided by phra.se structure grammars). The second is a new forrnal ism, 'Dynamic Dependency Gramniar ' , which uses axioms and deduction rules to provide analyses of sentences in terms of transitioos between states. A reformulation of dependency grammar usiug state transitions is of interest on several grounds. Firstly, it can be used to show that incremental interpretation is possible without requiring notions of overlapping, or flexible constituency (as ill some versions of categorial grammar) , and without destroy ing a trasmparent link between syntax and semantics. Secondly, the reformulation provides a level of description which can act as an intermediate stage between the original grammar and a parsing algorithm. Thirdly, it is possible to extend the relbrnm lated grammars with further axioii~s and deduction rules to provide coverage of syntactic constructions such as coortlination which are tlitficult to encode lexically.