Head (linguistics)

About: Head (linguistics) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2540 publications have been published within this topic receiving 29023 citations. The topic is also known as: nucleus.

Head order reduction: A graph reduction scheme for the operational lambda calculus

Abstract: This paper introduces a new reduction order for the lambda calculus, called head order. It lends itself to a graph reduction implementation. The head normal form of a lambda expression corresponds closely to K. J. Greene's lazy normal form of his LNF-calculus, that is, the head order normal form will have the same variable (respectively, constant) as head and the same number of arguments as its normal form. In the context of future implementations, the head normal form is also called the head normal form skeleton (respectively, outline). This skeleton is produced first. Then the normal forms of the arguments are obtained and inserted into this skeleton concurrently, since they do not interact anymore. Head order reduction automatically exposes concurrent processes.

The NP vs. DP debate. Why previous arguments are inconclusive and what a good argument could look like. Evidence from agreement with hybrid nouns

Abstract: The DP-hypothesis as proposed in Abney (1987) is nowadays generally taken for granted in formal syntactic work. In this paper I will show that a surprising number of arguments that have been provided in the literature are not conclusive. Many rest on purely theory-internal premises and thus lose their force given the developments within syntactic theory over the last decades. Others are largely based on presumed parallelisms between the noun phrase and the clause. In practically all cases a reasonable reanalysis within the NP-hypothesis is possible. Similarly, I will show that the few arguments in favor of the NP-hypothesis that there can be found are also inconclusive. Instead I will establish solid criteria for headedness and explore their implications for the NP vs. DP debate. I will show that the fact that the features of the head are present on the maximal projection makes testable predictions when the noun interacts with noun phrase external heads. I will first show that data from selection favor the DP-hypothesis (contrary to previous claims) since one needs to be able to syntactically select both DPs and bare nouns/NPs. Second, I will present a new argument in favor of the DP-hypothesis based on data from hybrid agreement in Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian. The phenomenon crucially requires D-elements to be closer to agreement targets outside the noun phrase than the noun itself. This follows if DP dominates NP but not vice versa.

The Signs of Determination: Constraint-Based Modelling Across Languages

Abstract: This study presents a comprehensive treatment of determination, based on English, Italian and other Germanic or Romance languages. Determiners are identified as those dependents of a nominal head that determine the type of reference for the Noun Phrase, covering articles as well as demonstrative, possessive, quantitative, cardinal and ordinal determiners. The work also accounts for their absence with self-determining nominals, like proper names and pronouns. The author's approach is sign-based, as syntactic, semantic and pragmatic aspects of words or phrases are treated in parallel by a grammar with logical constraints. In particular, the Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG) originally proposed by Carl Pollard and Ivan Sag is revised adopting a notion of 'functor' which proves ideal for all sorts of determiners.