HPSG 2006 The 13th International Conference on Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar Tutorials and Workshop

 24-27 July, 2006, Varna, Bulgaria

Tutorial 2
Abstract

Construction-Based Grammar

Ivan Sag

Part 1: Why Construction-Based Grammar?. I survey various issues in the design of grammar, arguing for a construction-based approach. I also sketch a version to Construction-Based Grammar that recasts certain ideas (e.g. those of Goldberg) in terms more familiar to an HPSG audience.

Part 2: A Preview of the monograph English Nominal Constructions, by Fillmore, Kay, Michaelis, and Sag. The basic approach is an adaptation of the Postal/Hudson analysis, where determiners are pronouns that select CNP arguments. I’ll discuss null instantiation of nominal complements, non-branching nominal constructions, and prenominal and post-nominal genitives.