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This paper proposes a solution to the computational task of extracting temporal information from simple declarative sentences based on separating temporal analysis into distinct tasks, each of which has access to a selected portion of the temporal input. The ultimate goal is to represent temporal information as explicitly as possible at each stage of analysis in order to provide the appropriate information for the next stage. Because the representations are constructed incrementally, it is important that they should be explicit about what has been derived so far, yet sufficiently noncommittal to avoid conflicting with subsequent processing

Since the pioneering work of Lees and Klima (1963), it has commonly been assumed that a single generalization determines the possible antecedents of anaphors (reflexive and reciprocal expressions) in English. The mechanisms proposed to express this generalization have evolved considerably over the last quarter century, but the transformations

this paper). Assuming a structure as: (24) [Der Mann] 1 [sucht] 2 [t 1 den Hund t 2 ] where the subscripts on the traces correspond to structure sharing of the synsem values, the same analysis as for the subordinate clause (23) can be maintained: nominative is assigned to the trace and inherited by the preposed noun phrase, the positional restriction is only on the trace, whereas the positional restrictions on the preposed noun phrase result from the standard filler mechanism. 6.2 Argument Reduction

. This paper describes and discusses some theoretical and practical problems arising from developing a system to combine the structured but incomplete information from machine readable dictionaries (MRDs) with the unstructured but more complete information available in corpora for the creation of a bilingual lexical data base, presenting a methodology to integrate information from both sources into a single lexical data structure. The bicord system (BIlingual CORpus-enhanced Dictionaries) involves linking entries in Collins English-French and FrenchEnglish bilingual dictionary with a large English-French and French-English bilingual corpus. We have concentrated on the class of action verbs of movement, building on earlier work on lexical correspondences specific to this verb class between languages (Klavans and Tzoukermann, 1989), (Klavans and Tzoukermann, 1990a), (Klavans and Tzoukermann, 1990b). 1 We first examine the way prototypical verbs of movement are translated in the Collin...

this paper states that different levels of processing can work on different pieces of an utterance at the same time. Thus, the phonological encoder can work on the early part of the clause while the syntactic encoder works on filling out what remains. As a result, once the syntactic representation for the sentence is done, its corresponding phonological representation is likely close to complete as well. 29

Although every. natural language system needs a computational lexicon, each systen puts different amounts and types of information into its lexicon according to its individual needs. However, some of the inlbnnation needed across systems is shared or "identical" information. This paper presents our experience in planuing and building COMPLEX, a computational lexicon designed to be a repository of shared lexical information for use by Natural Language Processing (NLP) systems. We have drawn primarily on explicit and implicit informa.- tion from machine-readable dictionaries (MRD's) to crcate a broad coverage lexicon.

Most current studies of aspect assume the existence of the four Vendler classes: states, activities, achievements and accomplishments. Despite the fact that other classifications have been offered, (for example, those in Mourelatos 1978, Bach 1981, and Carlson 1981) none has achieved the status of the Vendler classification. Often, linguists take these classes to be a linguistic fact, and then attempt to come up with theories which explain their existence and their properties, usually by offering basic elements of meaning and modes of composition that together produce just these four aspectual classes. One question which arises in the context of this enterprise is what aspectual classes are classes of. While the title of Vendler’s (1957) paper (“Verbs and Times”) leads one to assume that that Vendler was classifying verbs, he seemed to have been aware that he was really classifying larger linguistic units. The properties which define the Vendler classes are dynamicity, duration and telicity, at least some of which are not determined once and for all at the lexical level, but, rather, at the VP level, as a result of aspectual composition (Dowty 1979, Krifka 1992, 1998, Verkuyl 1989, among others). Thus, one

Thematic knowledge is a basis of semantic interpretation. In this paper, we propose an acquisition method to acquire thematic knowledge by exploiting syntactic clues from training sentences. The syntactic clues, which may be easily collected by most existing syntactic processors, reduce the hypothesis space of the thematic roles. The ambiguities may be further resolved by the evidences either from a trainer or from a large corpus. A set of heurisL:cs based on linguistic constraints is employed to guide the ambiguity resolution process. When a train,-r is available, the system generates new sentences ,s'kose thematic vaiidities can be justified by the trainer. When a large corpus is available, the thematic validity may be justified by observing the sentences in the corpus. Using this way, a syntactic processor may become a thematic recognizer by simply deriving its thematic knowledge from its own syntactic knowledge.

This article contributes to the general discussion by pointing out a fact of considerable crosslinguistic generality that has largely escaped attention in the literature on dative-shift-like alternations: the fact that for the most part there is no similar dative shift alternation with unaccusative verbs. This fact is rather mysterious under most traditional accounts. It is particularly curious given that the restriction does not generalize to passive constructions. Nevertheless, a principled and adequately general explanation can be given using some recent developments in syntactic theory. In the process, I build an argument that (2c) is the correct thematic hierarchy. Indeed, we will see that this hierarchy is rather directly motivated even in languages like Sesotho and Mohawk, which otherwise seem to fit in more naturally with one of the other hierarchies. 2. A GAP IN THE PARADIGM OF DATIVE SHIFT Since Burzio (1986), the standard assumption has been that unaccusative verbs have selectional properties which are the same as those of comparable transitive verbs. Indeed, the NP-PP sentences in (3) have straightforward unaccusative variants, as shown in (5). (5) a. The ring passed t to Mary. b. The beer opened t for Max. However, there are no unaccusative variants of the sentences in (4). In classical GB theory, such sentences would have the unremarkable-looking D-structure shown in (6). (6) e [ VP passed Mary the ring] However, neither NP can be moved to derive an acceptable sentence from this source. If the theme NP moved, one would expect sentences like (7); if the goal NP moved, one would derive the sentences in (8). (7) a. *The ring passed Mary t. b. *The beer opened Max t. (8) a. *Mary passed t the ring. b. *Max opened t a beer. (OK only if `Mary' and `Max' are th...