Abstract
We present Logical Description Grammar (LDG), a model of grammar and the syntax-semantics interface based on descriptions in elementary logic. A description may simultaneously describe the syntactic structure and the semantics of a natural language expression, i.e., the describing logic talks about the trees and about the truth-conditions of the language described. Logical Description Grammars offer a natural way of dealing with underspecification in natural language syntax and semantics. If a logical description (up to isomorphism) has exactly one tree plus truth-conditions as a model, it completely specifies that grammatical object. More common is the situation, corresponding to underspecification, in which there is more than one model. A situation in which there are no models corresponds to an ungrammatical input.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 417-455 |
| Number of pages | 39 |
| Journal | Journal of logic, language and information |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Publication status | Published - 2001 |