BEYOND GRAMMAR. An experience-based theory of language.
Rens Bod
During the last few years, a new approach to linguistic analysis has
started to emerge. This approach, which has come to be known under
various labels such as "data-oriented parsing", "corpus-based
interpretation" and "treebank grammar", embodies the assumption that
human language comprehension and production works with representations of
concrete past language experiences rather than with abstract grammatical
rules. The models that instantiate this approach operate by decomposing
the given representations into fragments and recomposing those pieces to
analyze (infinitely many) new utterances. A probability model is used to
choose from the collection of different fragments those that make up the
most appropriate representation of an utterance.
This book shows how this general approach can apply to various
kinds of linguistic representations, ranging from phrase-structure trees,
compositional semantic representations, dialogue representations, and
lexical-functional grammar representations. The resulting models are
utilized for the automatic acquisition of language, for harnessing
ambiguity and for processing of spoken dialogue. Experiments with these
models suggest that the productive units of natural language cannot be
defined by a minimal set of rules or principles, but need to be defined
by a large, redundant set of previously experienced structures. Bod
argues that this outcome has important consequences for linguistic
theory, leading to an entirely new view of the nature of linguistic
competence and the relationship between linguistic theory and models of
performance.
CSLI Publications, Cambridge University Press, 1998, xiv+170 pp.
$18.95 paperback ISBN 1-57586-150-x
$49.95 hardcover ISBN 1-57586-151-8