Feature Indeterminacy and Feature Resolution

Syntactic features like CASE, PERSON, and GENDER are often assumed to have simple atomic values that are checked for consistency by the standard predicate of equality. The CASE feature has values such as NOM or ACC, and values like MASC and FEM are assumed for the feature GENDER. But such a view doe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Language (Baltimore) 2000-12, Vol.76 (4), p.759-798
Main Authors: Dalrymple, Mary, Kaplan, Ronald M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Case (Grammar)
Coordinate systems
English language
Gender
Gender (Language)
Global theories
Grammar
Grammatical gender
Language
Lexical Functional Grammar
Linguistic Theory
Linguistics
Noun phrases
Nouns
Other theories
Phrase Structure
Phrases
Pronouns
Second Languages
Structural Analysis (Linguistics)
Syntactics
Syntax
Values
Verb phrases
Verbs
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Description
Summary:Syntactic features like CASE, PERSON, and GENDER are often assumed to have simple atomic values that are checked for consistency by the standard predicate of equality. The CASE feature has values such as NOM or ACC, and values like MASC and FEM are assumed for the feature GENDER. But such a view does not square with some of the complex behavior these features exhibit. It allows no obvious account of FEATURE INDETERMINACY (how a particular form can satisfy conflicting requirements on a feature like CASE), nor does it give an obvious account of FEATURE RESOLUTION (how PERSON and GENDER features of a coordinate noun phrase are determined on the basis of the conjuncts). We present a theory of feature representation and feature checking that solves these two problems, providing a straightforward characterization of feature indeterminacy and feature resolution while sticking to structures and standard interpretations that have independent motivation. Our theory of features is formulated within the LFG framework, but we believe that similar solutions can be developed within other syntactic approaches.
ISSN:0097-8507
1535-0665
DOI:10.2307/417199