Robust Minimal Recursion Semantics

Deep and shallow processing techniques have complementary strengths and weaknesses. There are various ways in which deep and shallow techniques can be combined in practical systems to take advantage of the strengths of each approach. In this paper, I argue for the advantages of using a semantic representation as the interface between various types of deep and shallow processing. I illustrate how with a flat semantics approach, shallow processing can be regarded as producing a semantics which is underspecified with respect to deeper processing, but fully compatible with it. I describe the notion of specificity which results and illustrate its connection with specificity in typed feature structures. I also show how semantic composition rules designed for deep formalisms can be adapted to shallow processing. Some practical experiments are described using the tag sequence grammar from the RASP tools and the LinGO English Resource Grammar.1

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