Course Natural Language Syntax CS 6998 Spring 2005

Course: Natural Language Syntax (CS 6998) Spring 2005 Martin Jansche and Owen Rambow

TIME, LOCATION • Wednesdays 11 : 00 AM-12: 50 PM • In 620 CEPSR (tbc) • The course starts January 19, 2005 • Offical info: COMS E 6998 -1 (28753), Topics In Computer Science, I (Adv Tpcs/naturl Lang Proc) 3. 0 0 O. Rambow

WHAT IS NATURAL LANGUAGE SYNTAX? • Syntax = structure of natural language utterances • Syntax = interface between surface strings and meaning • Example: Who does what to whom? Pat convinced Robin to shave o Pat promised Robin to shave o Pat left Robin to shave o Not just a matter of words having different meanings!

COURSE OUTLINE • What is syntax? • Descriptive introduction to some of the core linguistic phenomena (English, other languages) • Frameworks for the representation of syntax: TAG, HPSG, LFG, Chomskyan Minimalism • Computational aspects

WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE? • Anyone interested in natural language • Natural language processing/AI students in computer science • Students in other disciplines who need an overview of syntax, including formal approaches to representing syntax

COURSE REQUIREMENTS • One to three short presentations in class (5 -15 minutes); examples: Raising constructions in Nepali o An LFG analysis of wh-movement in Egyptian Arabic o • Final project: a paper and/or an implementation; can focus on linguistic, formal, and/or computational issues; examples: o Wh-movement and relative clauses in Egyptian Arabic Raising in Malagasy and the formal power of LFG o A robust parser using TAG o A processing model for garden-path sentences in English based on Categorial Grammar o