Unification Categorial Grammar

Abstract

Unification Categorial Grammar (UCG) combines the syntactic insights of Categorial Grammar with the semantic insights of Discourse Representation Theory. The addition of unification to these two frameworks allows a simple account of interaction between different linguistic levels within a constraining, monostraial theory. The resulting, computationally efficient, system provides an explicit formal framework for linguistic description, within which large fragments of grammars for French and English have already been developed. We present the formal basis of UCG, with independent definitions of well-formedness for syntactic and semantic dimensions. We will also focus on the concept of modifier within the theory.