An Attribute-Grammar Implementation of Government-binding Theory

An Attribute-Grammar Implementation of Government-bindlng Theory Nelson Correa Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Syracuse University 111 Link Hall Syracuse, NY 13244 ABSTRACT The syntactic analysis of languages with respect to Government-binding (GB) grammar is a problem that has received relatively little attention until recently. This paper describes an attribute grammar specification of the Government-binding theory. The paper focuses on the description of the attribution rules responsible for determining antecedent-trace relations in phrase-structure trees, and on some theoretical implications of those rules for the GB model. The specification relies on a transformation-lem variant of Government-binding theory, briefly discussed by Chomsky (1981), in which the rule move-a is replaced by an interpretive rule. Here the interpretive rule is specified by means of attribution rules. The attribute grammar is currently being used to write an English parser which embodies the principles of GB theory. The parsing strategy and attribute evaluation scheme are cursorily described at the end of the paper. Introduction In this paper we consider the use of attribute gram- mars (Knuth, 1968; Waite and Goos, 1984) to pro- vide a computational definition of the Government- binding theory layed out by Chomsky (1981, 1982). This research thus constitutes a move in the direc- tion of seeking specific mechanisms and realizations of universal grammar. The attribute grammar pro- vides a specification at a level intermediate between the abstract principles of GB theory and the partic- ular automatons that may be used for parsing or generation of the language described by the theory. Almost by necessity and the nature of the goal set out, there will be several arbitrary decisions and details of realization that are not dictated by any particular linguistic or psychological facts, but perhaps only by matters of style and possible com- putational efficiency considerations in the final pro- duct. It is therefore safe to assume that the partic- ular attribute grammar that will be arrived at admits of a large number of non-isomorphic vari- ants, none of which is to be preferred over the oth- ers a priori. The specification given here is for English. Similar specifications of the parametrized grammars of typologically different languages may eventually lead to substantive generalizations about the computational mechanisms employed in natural languages. The purpose of this research is twofold: First, to provide a precise computational definition of Government-binding theory, as its core ideas are generally understood. We thus begin to provide an answer to criticisms that have recently been leveled against the theory regarding its lack of formal expli- citness (Gazdar et aI., 1985; PuUum, 1985). Unlike earlier computational models of GB theory, such as that of Berwick and Weinberg (1984), which assumes Marcus' (1980) parsing automaton, the attribute grammar specification is more abstract and neutral regarding the choice of parsing'auto- mata. Attribute grammar offers a language specification frsxnework whose formal properties are generally well-understood and explored. A second and more important purpose of the present research is to provide an alternate and mechanistic charac- terization of the principles of universal grammar. …

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