Model-theoretic grammar
Model-theoretic grammars, also known as constraint-based grammars, contrast with generative grammars in the way they define sets of sentences: they state constraints on syntactic structure rather than providing operations for generating syntactic objects. A generative grammar provides a set of operations such as rewriting, insertion, deletion, movement, or combination, and is interpreted as a definition of the set of all and only the objects that these operations are capable of producing through iterative application. A model-theoretic grammar simply states a set of conditions that an object must meet, and can be regarded as defining the set of all and only the structures of a certain sort that satisfy all of the constraints. The approach applies the mathematical techniques of model theory to the task of syntactic description: a grammar is a theory in the logician's sense and the well-formed structures are the models that satisfy the theory.
History
and Paul M. Postal introduced the idea of model-theoretic syntax in their 1980 book Arc Pair Grammar.Examples of model-theoretic grammars
The following is a sample of grammars falling under the model-theoretic umbrella:- the non-procedural variant of Transformational grammar of George Lakoff, that formulates constraints on potential tree sequences
- Johnson and Postal's formalization of Relational grammar , Generalized phrase structure grammar in the variants developed by Gazdar et al., Blackburn et al. and Rogers
- Lexical functional grammar in the formalization of Ronald Kaplan
- Head-driven phrase structure grammar in the formalization of King
- Constraint Handling Rules grammars
- The implicit model underlying ''The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language''
Strengths