Constructional Analysis

We describe a unique rule-based language analysis system that performs both syntactic and semantic analysis using construction grammar. The analyzer supports a grammar formalism called the Embodied Construction Grammar (ECG), which is described in the paper along with the computational machinery needed to support such an expressive grammar. We also show how to leverage the rich semantics associated with an ECG grammar. With the rich semantics, the analyzer can place an ordering on competing analyses and can also better respond to unanticipated syntactic patterns. The paper then closes with a description of the analyzer’s current applications.