MatrixDoc_Coordination

Documentation for the Grammar Matrix Customization Coordination Library

Introduction

While the coordination library is optional (you can create a grammar without using it), if your language has AND-style coordination of any constituent type it is a good idea to have it in the grammar from the beginning. Coordination interacts with many different phenomena, and so building your analyses of the various phenomena with coordination in the mix from the start is a good idea.

Generally, the Grammar Matrix Coordination customization page is divided into two pieces. The coordination library enables users to add coordination strategies to their grammars ("Add a Coordination Strategy"). Additionally, users may describe how agreement features (like person, number, and gender) work in coordinated phrases in the language they are describing.

Descriptive grammars frequently describe coordination strategies, and somewhat less frequently describe how agreement features work within those coordination strategies. It may make sense to add a coordination strategy without also describing how agreement works in that language's coordinated phrases.

Coordination Strategy Options

• [ This documentation is under construction. When it is more complete, this section should describe the effects of the various options provided in this library in terms of the behavior of the grammar. It is also a good place for tips on how to get the most from the library. ]

Coordination Strategy Analyses

• [ This documentation is under construction. When it is more complete, this section should describe the analyses that are implemented as part of this library and/or point to publications where those analyses are described. ]

The coordination library allows the user to specify different coorindation strategies for different types of coordinands (e.g., NP and S). This results in specialized grammar rules for each type of coordinand. This may seem surprising in light of the very general coordination schemas sometimes encountered in the HPSG literatures, but in fact it is well-supported from both typological and theoretical angles. From a typological point of view, many languages use different coordination strategies for the coordination of different constituent types. From a theoretical point of view, the work that the coordination rule needs to do, both syntactically and semantically, differs according to the type of constituent being coordinated.

The coordination library does not presently constrain the value of any HEAD or INDEX features on the mother. Such constraints can be added to the starter grammar by hand. Note that in some cases, you'll need to create further subtypes of each rule type (e.g., to handle the resolution of such features as PERSON and NUMBER in NP coordination, based on the value of these features on the coordinands).

The analyses implemented in this library are partially described in Drellishak and Bender 2005.

Agreement Features in Coordinated Phrases

Agreement Pattern Options

Agreement Pattern Analyses

Upcoming Work

• [ This documentation is under construction. When it is more complete, this section should describe any modifications to or enhancements of this library that are either in progress or planned. ]

References

Drellishak, Scott and Emily M. Bender. 2005. A Coordination Module for a Crosslinguistic Grammar Resource. Stephan Müller, ed. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar. Stanford: CSLI.