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Syntactic Structures as Multi-dimensional Trees

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Research on Language and Computation

Abstract

We survey a sequence of results relating model-theoretic and language-theoreticdefinability over an infinite hierarchy of multi-dimensional tree-like structures and explore their applications to a corresponding range of theoriesof syntax. We discuss, in particular, results for Government and Binding Theory(GB), Tree-Adjoining Grammar (TAG) and Generalized Phrase-Structure Grammar(GPSG) along with a generalized version of TAG extending TAG in much the sameway that GPSG extends CFLs. In addition, we look at a hierarchy oflanguage classes, Weir's version of the Control Language Hierarchy, which ischaracterized by definability in our hierarchy and speculate on possiblelinguistic significance of higher levels of these hierarchies.

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  1. Department of Computer Science, Earlham College, Richmond, IN, 47374, USA (E-mail

    James Rogers

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Rogers, J. Syntactic Structures as Multi-dimensional Trees. Research on Language and Computation 1, 265–305 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024695608419

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