Graph Theory - Computational Linguistics and Talking Robots - page 185

9.5.6 P ROPLET REPRESENTATION OF SUBJECT GAPPING
⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

noun: Bob
cat: nm
sem: sg
fnc: eat
walk
read
prn: 32

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

⎡
⎣

⎤
⎦

verb: eat
cat: decl
sem: past
arg: Bob apple
prn: 32

noun: apple
cat: snp
sem: indef sg
fnc: eat
prn: 32

verb: walk
cat: decl
sem: past
arg: Bob dog
prn: 32

noun: dog
cat: snp
sem: def sg
fnc: walk
prn: 32

verb: read
cat: decl
sem: past
arg: Bob paper
prn: 32

noun: paper
cat: snp
sem: def sg
fnc: read
prn: 32

Here the shared item is the subject Bob , which lists the three verbs in its fnc
slot, just as the three verbs list Bob in the first position of their arg slot.

9.6 Object Gapping and Noun Gapping

While English subject gapping and verb gapping have in common that the filler
precedes the gap(s), object gapping and noun gapping have in common that the
filler follows the gap(s). Consider the following example of object gapping:

9.6.1 O BJECT GAPPING :

Bob bought #, Jim peeled #, and Bill ate the apple.
The object of the complete sentence, apple , is shared by the gapped parts
preceding, with # marking the gaps. 14 The DBS graph analysis is as follows:

9.6.2 DBS GRAPH ANALYSIS OF OBJECT GAPPING IN 9.6.1

(i) semantic relations graph (SRG) (iii) numbered arcs graph (NAG)

buy

buy

peel peel

1

12

2

eat eat

5

6

7 4

3

11 8

9 10

Bob Jim Bill apple Bob Jim Bill

apple

(ii) signature

V

V

V

(iv) surface realization

1 2 3−4−5 6 7−8 9 10 11

12

NNN N .

Bob bought Jim peeled and Bill ate the_apple