TY - GEN
T1 - Closure properties of minimalist derivation tree languages
AU - Graf, Thomas
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Recently, the question has been raised whether the derivation tree languages of Minimalist grammars (MGs; [14, 16]) are closed under intersection with regular tree languages [4, 5]. Using a variation of a proof technique devised by Thatcher [17], I show that even though closure under intersection does not obtain, it holds for every MG and regular tree language that their intersection is identical to the derivation tree language of some MG modulo category labels. It immediately follows that the same closure property holds with respect to union, relative complement, and certain kinds of linear transductions. Moreover, enriching MGs with the ability to put regular constraints on the shape of their derivation trees does not increase the formalism's weak generative capacity. This makes it straightforward to implement numerous linguistically motivated constraints on the Move operation.
AB - Recently, the question has been raised whether the derivation tree languages of Minimalist grammars (MGs; [14, 16]) are closed under intersection with regular tree languages [4, 5]. Using a variation of a proof technique devised by Thatcher [17], I show that even though closure under intersection does not obtain, it holds for every MG and regular tree language that their intersection is identical to the derivation tree language of some MG modulo category labels. It immediately follows that the same closure property holds with respect to union, relative complement, and certain kinds of linear transductions. Moreover, enriching MGs with the ability to put regular constraints on the shape of their derivation trees does not increase the formalism's weak generative capacity. This makes it straightforward to implement numerous linguistically motivated constraints on the Move operation.
KW - Closure Properties
KW - Derivation Tree Languages
KW - Derivational Constraints
KW - Minimalist Grammars
KW - Regular Tree Languages
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/79960117934
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-642-22221-4_7
DO - 10.1007/978-3-642-22221-4_7
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:79960117934
SN - 9783642222207
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
SP - 96
EP - 111
BT - Logical Aspects of Computational Linguistics - 6th International Conference, LACL 2011, Proceedings
T2 - 6th International Conference on Logical Aspects of Computational Linguistics, LACL 2011
Y2 - 29 June 2011 through 1 July 2011
ER -