Models based on Chomskyan grammar are not as pervasive in certain NLP applications as might be expected from their status in linguistics, comparing to, e.g., statistical n-gram models or vector space models. In contrast, here grammar inference is approached from the viewpoint of constructionist theories of language, which avoid the separation of morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. We ...

This paper empirically explores the influence of two types of factors on the interpretation of spoken object descriptions: (1) descriptive attributes, e.g., colour and size; and (2) interpretation stages, e.g., syntax and pragmatics. We also investigate two schemes for combining attributes when estimating the goodness of an interpretation: Multiplicative and Additive. Our results show that the ...

We argue that the semantics of a null complement spot in such sentences is given by a free variable, which may either occur free (so that the null complement is interpreted like a deictic) or bound (so that the reading of the whole utterance is quantificational). We also propose that the syntax is what one sees on the surface: there aren't empty categories which are complements to the verbs, an...

In this paper, we approach the phenomenon of insubordination in spoken Brazilian Portuguese through data on adverbial clauses extracted from the C-ORAL-BRASIL corpus [Raso and Mello 2012]. Differently from the traditional conception of insubordination [Evans 2007], we propose a synchronic view, strongly based on the analysis of the prosody/pragmatics interface in spoken language. We show that i...

The paper investigates the distribution of English if and whether as complementizers for polar questions in extensional contexts, and specifically the restriction of if-questions to negative contexts. I will criticize the recent analysis by Adger and Quer (2001) and suggest that markedness of embedded ifquestions in certain contexts arises through the conspiracy of several factors. I follow Bol...