The problem of how to connect a function, ooered by a computational component, to a graphical user-interface part |such as a button| is addressed in a general way. We propose a solution that achieves a complete separation between the computational component and the user-interface component. We show that our approach is feasible in the application domain of interactive programming environments a...

Contemporary studies of the semantics of tense and aspect tend to rely on syntactic hypotheses that are at odds with those of a phrase-structure based and lexicalist approach to syntax, such as that embodied in HPSG. For instance, de Swart (1998) explicitly assumes that tense relations originate in a syntactic position distinct from that of the head verb of the clause; and the approach to aspec...

3. CHALLENGES FOR COMPOSITIONALITY 3.1. TYPE MISMATCH 3.1.1. Quantifier interpretation 3.1.2. Real-time processing of quantified expressions 3.1.3. Type mismatch in conjunctions 3.2. COERCION 3.2.1. Complement coercion 3.2.2. Coercion as VP-insertion 3.2.2.1. Evidence in favor of VP-insertion 3.2.2.2. Evidence against VP-insertion 3.2.3. Real-time processing of complement coercion 3.2.3.1. Basi...

1. Introduction Possessive relations are fundamental in linguistic descriptions. The alienability between a possessum and its possessor, in particular, has received much attention in the literature (see Antrim, 1996 and a recent collection by Coene & D'hulst, 2003, for reviews). The issue of alienability concerns whether a nominal entity holds an intrinsic relation with its possessor. Such a re...

Taiwanese abounds with verbal complexes. Among them, phasal complexes, resultative complexes, and directional complexes are alike in that their second component denotes some sort of result. Moreover, they behave similarly in that they can occur in V-ho-V, V-e/be-V, and V-bo-V forms. Despite the similarities, they still differ from one another in several aspects, such as whether objects are allo...

This paper presents a descriptive overview and formal analysis of the use of pronominal clitics for realizing various types of arguments in Persian, with particular emphasis on object clitics in the verbal domain. We argue that pronominal clitics behave more like suffixes than independent syntactic elements; in cases where they take syntactic scope over an NP or a PP, they must be phrasal affix...

This paper argues that multiple coordinations like tall, thin and happy are interpreted in a “flat” iterative process, but using “nested” recursive application of binary coordination operators in the compositional meaning derivation. Ample motivation for flat interpretation is shown by contrasting such coordinations with nested, syntactically ambiguous, coordinate structures like tall and thin ...

In this paper, we advocate the view that to provide an adequate account of certain eli tic constructions, one must refer to more than one component of the grammatical system. We will argue that the emphatic clitics in Bengali must be licensed by both the morphophonemics of the lexicon and the syntax of logical form, where the latter largely obeys the constraints on overt syntactic movements. Af...

In this paper, alternation based model of the valency lexicon of Czech verbs, VALLEX, is described. Two types of alternations (changes in valency frames of verbs) are distinguished on the basis of used linguistic means: (i) grammaticalized alternations and (ii) lexicalized alternations. Both grammaticalized and lexicalized alternations are either conversive, or non-conversive. While grammatical...