Simultaneous Amalgamation - Computational Linguistics and Talking Robots - page 155

tence (8.6.1). In DBS, this is formally expressed as follows: subclauses have a
finite verb, which is reflected by their having their own prn value; infinitives,
in contrast, borrow tense, mood, and agreement from their finite matrix verb,
which is reflected by their sharing their prn value with the matrix clause.
Consider the following DBS hear mode derivation of the transitive infinitive
construction to read a book serving as the object of the transitive verb try :

8.4.1 H EAR MODE DERIVATION OF John tried to read a book

.

John tried to read a book

lexical lookup

.

noun: John
cat: nm
sem: sg
fnc:

verb: try
cat: n' a' v

verb: v_1
cat: inf
fnc:

verb: read
cat: n−s3' a' v
arg:

noun: n_1

noun: book pnc:

cat: v' decl

cat: sn' snp cat: sn

arg:
mdr:
prn:

sem: indef sg sem: sg

prn:

arg: mdr:

prn:

fnc: fnc:

prn: prn: prn: prn:

syntactic−semantic parsing

noun: John
cat: nm

verb: try
cat: n' a' v

1 sem: sg

fnc:

arg:
mdr:
prn:

prn: 32

noun: John
cat: nm

verb: try verb: v_1

cat: inf
fnc:
arg:

cat: a' v
arg: John

2 sem: sg

fnc: try mdr:

prn: 32 prn: 32 prn:

noun: John
cat: nm

verb: try verb: v_1

cat: inf
fnc: try

verb: read
cat: n−s3' a' v
arg:

cat: v

3 sem: sg arg: John v_1

fnc: try mdr: arg: John mdr:

prn:

prn: 32 prn: 32 prn: 32

noun: n_1

noun: John
cat: nm

verb: try verb: read

cat: sn' snp

cat: v cat: inf

fnc: try

sem: indef sg
fnc:

4 sem: sg arg: John read

fnc: try mdr: arg: John

prn:

prn: 32 prn: 32 prn: 32

noun: John
cat: nm

verb: try verb: read noun: n_1 noun: book

cat: sn
sem:
fnc:

cat: v cat: inf

fnc: try

cat: sn' snp

5 sem: sg

fnc: try

arg: John read sem: indef sg

fnc:

mdr: arg: John n_1

prn: 32 prn: 32 prn: 32 prn: 32 prn:

.

noun: John
cat: nm

verb: try verb: read noun: book pnc:

cat: v' decl

cat: v cat: inf cat: snp

6 sem: sg

fnc: try

arg: John read fnc: try sem: indef sg prn:

mdr: arg: John book fnc: read

prn: 32 prn: 32 prn: 32 prn: 32

result

noun: John
cat: nm

verb: try verb: read noun: book

cat: decl cat: inf cat: snp

sem: sg
fnc: try

arg: John read fnc: try sem: indef sg

mdr: arg: John book fnc: read