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Constraints on Derivations

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Grammars

Abstract

We study the effect of various constraints on derivations: Cyclicity, Freeze, and Shortest Steps. It will be shown that given a surface structure, one can effectively determine in polynomial time an ordering on the chain links such that any linear ordering extending it gives rise to a derivation. The length of the steps can be computed as well. Using this, it is shown that up to inessential variations Freeze and Shortest Steps select only one derivation as the right one, while Cyclicity leaves (in the worst case) exponentially many choices. Moreover, the combined effect of Shortest Steps and Cyclicity is determined, once again leading to an essentially unique solution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Linguistics, University of California, 3125 Campbell Hall, PO Box 951543, 450 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90095–1543, USA

    Marcus Kracht

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  1. Marcus Kracht
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Kracht, M. Constraints on Derivations. Grammars 6, 89–113 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026178112344

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026178112344

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