<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div>BACKGROUND <br><br>I am writing a "mal rule" that will allow sentences like "male called a woman". (IE this is an ungrammatical version of "a male called a woman"). The standard ERG (1111) will not parse that because male does not act as a mass noun, and so will not allow creation of a bare np. <br>
<br>I have decided that my desired parse will be the application of hdn_bnp_c to n_sg_ilr to male_n1. This fails at the composition with hdn_bnp_c. After experimenting with the definition of hdn_bnp_c, I have found that the constraint:<br>
<br>SYNSEM.LOCAL.AGR.DIV + <br><br></div>seems to be the problem. If I construct a mal-rule version of hdn_bnp_c without this constraint, then the sentences parse fine, eg:<br><br>derivation[1] (0):male called a woman<br>
<br> (805 sb-hd_mc_c 0 0 4 [root_informal]<br> (787 mal_hdn_bnp_c 0 0 1<br> (293 n_sg_ilr 0 0 1<br> (22 male_n1/n_-_c-nocnh_le 0 0 1 []<br> (20 "male" 0 0 1 <0:4>))))<br> (578 hd-cmp_u_c 0 1 4<br>
(228 v_pst_olr 0 1 2<br> (62 call_v1/v_np*_le -0.2128 1 2 [v_pst_olr]<br> (17 "called" 0 1 2 <5:11>)))<br> (501 sp-hd_n_c 0 2 4<br> (181 a_det/d_-_sg-nmd_le -0.4307 2 3 []<br> (18 "a" 0 2 3 <12:13>))<br>
(212 n_sg_ilr 0 3 4<br> (201 woman1/n_-_c_le 0 3 4 []<br> (19 "woman" 0 3 4 <14:19>))))))<br><br></div>So I have achieved my mal-rule. But....<br><br></div>THE PUZZLE<br><br></div>
I want to understand exactly why this constraint causes the problem. Intuitively this seems right, in that "male" is not divisible, so I would expect a clash somewhere between + and - on "INDEX.DIV". It also makes sense that n_sg_ilr would create DIV to be -, which it does.<br>
<br></div>BUT I have traced the TFS for male_n1, n_sg_ilr and hdn_bmp_c and I cannot see the linkage. I have found on hdn_bmp_c:<br><br>SYNSEM.LOCAL.AGR.DIV + <br><br></div>and I have also found on hdn_bmp_c (after composition with n_sg_ilr):<br>
<br></div>C-CONT.HOOK.INDEX.DIV -<br></div>SYNSEM. --SIND.DIV -<br><br></div>but no link between the ARG.DIV structure and anything else at all. So how could the clash between + and - on DIV occur?<br><br></div>Maybe my analysis is wrong? Maybe there is a special out-of-band (not in the TFS system) linkage between AGR and other stuff? Maybe there is a completely different explanation?<br>
<br></div>I would be grateful for any thoughts on this. <br><br></div>BTW I am interested to find out why I have failed to see the inconsistencies in the constraints, rather than other ways to do what I am trying to do. I am happy with my mal-rule, its just I don't understand why!<br>
<br></div>best wishes<br><br></div>David Mott<br></div>