Open Accesscompositional semantics for complex tenses
Author(s) -
Kei Yoshimoto,
Yuichi Mori
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
proceedings of the international conference on head-driven phrase structure grammar
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1535-1793
DOI - 10.21248/hpsg.2001.20
Subject(s) - computer science , grammar , linguistics , semantics (computer science) , interpretation (philosophy) , representation (politics) , head driven phrase structure grammar , relative clause , modal , operator (biology) , point (geometry) , natural language processing , artificial intelligence , mathematics , generative grammar , programming language , philosophy , law , chemistry , geometry , biochemistry , repressor , politics , political science , polymer chemistry , transcription factor , gene
We propose a formulation of 'relative tense theory' as applied to the complex tenses in Japanese using an HPSG grammar with its semantics represented based on Discourse Representation Theory. Specifically, a mechanism of tense interpretation which consecutively combines Discourse Representation Structures in parallel with an otherwise motivated hierarchical syntactic structure is presented. The framework provides a concise and comprehensive account of the Japanese simplex and complex tenses; it is made possible by the use of a hypothetical temporal point temporal axis, which relates the location time of the relevant clause to an outer temporal point, and a modal semantic operator woll.