Eckhard Bick - VISL

Returning to a research view concerned with lexicography, the softness of valency tags,
while relevant for the parsing grammar, is not the only problem. Epistemological
methodology is another one. With lexicographic research into valency being one of its
potential applications, how can a syntactic parser defend using valency information in
its own (tool) grammar? If direct object tags (@ACC) were assigned if and only if the
closest main verb candidate is tagged , then it would indeed not make sense to use
the parser’s output for extracting information on verbs’ monotransitive valency.
However, CG rules are not absolute rules like the rules in standard generative
systems (for instance DCG). In a DCG, if a verb terminal is listed only as , and
there are no rewriting rules for a clause with a main verb and an additional np (the
direct object), then a sentence with the combination and direct object will not be
parsed. It just isn’t part of the language defined ... implying that all lexicographic
research has to be done a priori. Similarly, a standard DCG parse will fail with a
sentence featuring a -only main verb but no direct object candidate np.
Technically, a CG parses the function of words, not sentences, and it does so by
removing information, opting for the most “resilient” tag. Therefore, the only verb
candidate in a sentence will always become be assigned main verb function, - even if it
is listed in the lexicon as only , and there is no direct object. More laboriously, but
likewise, the CG rule set may well arrive at providing the (correct) direct object tag
(@ACC) even in the absence of a tag on the main verb, simply because all other
readings have been discarded by rules stronger than the one that would have removed
the @ACC reading. Also, in a CG parser, safe - unambiguous - contexts can force
readings that contradict the original valency. An example are pronouns in the accusative
(‘o/a/os/as’ - as enclitics or directly to the left of a verb), which will force a direct object
(@ACC) reading already at the mapping stage. Likewise, que-clauses will be tagged as
direct objects (@#FS-