Antisymmetry

About: Antisymmetry is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 214 publications have been published within this topic receiving 7914 citations.

Markedness, antisymmetry and complexity of constructions

Abstract: Our concern in this paper is with the interactions between language change, language acquisition, markedness, and computational complexity of mappings between grammatical representations. We demonstrate through a computational simulation of language change that markedness can produce ‘gaps’ in the distribution of combinations of linguistic features. Certain combinations will not occur, simply because there are combinations that are computationally less complex. We argue that one contributor to markedness in this sense is the degree of the transparency of the mapping between superficial syntactic structure and Conceptual Structure. We develop a rough measure of complexity that takes into account the extent to which the syntactic structure involves stretching and twisting of the relations that hold in Conceptual Structure, and we show how it gives the right results in a number of specific cases.

Solving the Schrödinger equation of molecules by relaxing the antisymmetry rule: Inter-exchange theory

Abstract: The Schrodinger equation (SE) and the antisymmetry principle constitute the governing principle of chemistry. A general method of solving the SE was presented before as the free complement (FC) theory, which gave highly accurate solutions for small atoms and molecules. We assume here to use the FC theory starting from the local valence bond wave function. When this theory is applied to larger molecules, antisymmetrizations of electronic wave functions become time-consuming and therefore, an additional breakthrough is necessary concerning the antisymmetry principle. Usually, in molecular calculations, we first construct the wave function to satisfy the antisymmetry rule, “electronic wave functions must be prescribed to be antisymmetric for all exchanges of electrons, otherwise bosonic interference may disturb the basis of the science.” Starting from determinantal wave functions is typical. Here, we give an antisymmetrization theory, called inter-exchange (iExg) theory, by dividing molecular antisymmetrizations to those within atoms and between atoms. For the electrons belonging to distant atoms in a molecule, only partial antisymmetrizations or even no antisymmetrizations are necessary, depending on the distance between the atoms. So, the above antisymmetry rule is not necessarily followed strictly to get the results of a desired accuracy. For this and other reasons, the necessary parts of the antisymmetrization operations become very small as molecules become larger, leading finally to the operation counts of lower orders of N, the number of electrons. This theory creates a natural antisymmetrization method that is useful for large molecules.

Theoretical Approaches to Disharmonic Word Order

Abstract: PART I: ON THE NATURE OF DISHARMONY PART II: THE ROLE OF PROSODY PART III: THE QUESTION OF ANTISYMMETRY PART IV: NOVEL ALTERNATIVES TO ANTISYMMETRY PART V: THE FINAL-OVER-FINAL CONSTRAINT

Compounds Don't Come Easy

Abstract: In this article we present an original analysis of NN compounds in Germanic and Romance, proposing that their morpho-syntactic and interpretive properties can be explained in compliance with narrow syntax conditions on Merge and Projection, crucially related to Kayne’s Antisymmetry model. In particular, we contend that root compounding represents a specific mode of syntactic computation (‘Compound Phase’), whereby two structurally identical syntactic objects – the compound members – get merged in a parallel fashion, hence yielding a symmetric configuration that prevents label projection. Compound Phase computation can thus be seen as a ‘repair strategy’ allowing the derivation to get a label and converge at the interfaces. On these theoretical grounds, the formal and interpretive contrasts between Germanic and Romance, and, within each language, the differences between compounds and prototypical syntactic constructions are essentially derived from the syntax of Compound Phases, given the independent properties of the lexical items involved in the computation.