Logic Programming of the Displacement Calculus

The displacement calculus of Morrill, Valent́ın and Fadda (2011)[12] forms a foundation for type logical categorial grammar in which discontinuity is accommodated alongside continuity in a logic which is free of structural rules and which enjoys Cut-elimination, the subformula property, decidability, and the finite reading property. The calculus deploys a new kind of sequent calculus which we call hypersequent calculus in which types and configurations have not only external context but also internal context, in the case that they are discontinuous. In this paper we consider the logic programming of backward chaining hypersequent proof search for the displacement calculus. We show how focusing eliminates all spurious ambiguity in the fragment without antecedent tensors and we illustrate coding of the essential features of displacement. In this way we lay a basis for parsing/theorem proving for this calculus, which is being used and extended in a system CatLog currently under development.