2.

4 Feature Systems and Augmented Grammars

 In natural languages there are often agreement restrictions between words and
phrases. For example, the NP a men is not correct English because the article a
indicates a single object while the noun men indicates a plural object; the noun
phrase does not satisfy the number agreement restriction of English.

 There are Many other forms of agreement, including subject-verb agreement,

gender agreement for pronouns, restrictions between the head of a phrase and
the form of its complement, and so on. To handle such phenomena
conveniently, the grammatical formalism is extended to allow constituents to
have features. For example, we might define a feature NUMBER that may take a
value of either s (for singular) or p (for plural), and we then might write an
augmented CFG rule such as
NP -> ART N only when NUMBER i agrees with NUMBER 2
 This rule says that a legal noun phrase consists of an article followed by a noun,
but only when the number feature of the first word agrees with the number
feature of the second. This one rule is equivalent to two CFG rules that would
use different terminal symbols for encoding singular and plural forms of all noun
phrases, such as
NP-SING -> ART-SING N-SING
NP-PLURAL -> ART-PLURAL N-PLURAL
 While the two approaches seem similar in ease-of-use in this one example,
consider that all rules in the grammar that use an NP on the right-hand side
would now need to be duplicated to include a rule for NP-SING and a rule for NP-
PLURAL, effectively doubling the size of the grammar. And handling additional
features, such as person agreement, would double the size of the grammar
again and again. Using features, the size of the augmented grammar remains
the same as the original one yet accounts for agreement constraints.

 To accomplish this, a constituent is defined as a feature structure a mapping

from features to values that defines the relevant properties of the constituent.
ART1: (ART ROOT a NUMBER s)
ART1: (ART a NUMBER s)
 Feature structures can be used to represent larger constituents as well. To do
this, feature structures themselves can occur as values. Special features based
on the integers - 1, 2, 3, and so on - will stand for the first subconstituent,
second subconstituent, and so on, as needed. With this, the representation of
the NP constituent for the phrase a fish could be
(NP NUMBER ?n) -> (ART NUMBER ?n) (N NUMBER ?n)
 This says that an NP constituent can consist of two subconstituents, the first
being an ART and the second being an N, in which the NUMBER feature in all
three constituents is identical. According to this rule, constituent NP is a legal
constituent
*(NP Number s
1 (ART NUMBER s)
 2 (N NUMBER s))

On the other hand, the constituent

*(NP 1 (ART NUMBER s)
2 (N NUMBER s))
 is not allowed by this rule because there is no NUMBER feature in the NP, and
the constituent
*(NP NUMBER s
1 (ART NUMBER s)
2 (N NUMBER p))
 is not allowed because the NUMBER feature of the N constituent is not identical
to the other two NUMBER features.
Eg: A FISH
NP1:(NP NUMBER s
1(ART Root a NUMBER s)
2(N Root fish NUMBER s))

Eg: a boy is running

S: (NP Number s
1(ART Root a NUMBER s)
2(N Root boy NUMBER s) )
(VP Number s
1(V NUMBER s)
2(V-ing NUMBER s) )

Eg: The boys are running

S: (NP Number p
1(ART Root the NUMBER p)
2(N Root boy NUMBER p)))
(VP: Number p
1(V NUMBER p)
2(V-ing Number p))

Eg: A book sits on the table

S:
(NP NUMBER p
1(ART ROOT a NUMBER s)
2(N ROOT book NUMBER s)
)
(VP:
(V ROOT sits)

(PP:
(P ROOT on)
(NP:
1(ART ROOT the)
 2(N ROOT table)
)
)
)

Eg: A books sit on the table

S:
(NP NUMBER s
1(ART ROOT a NUMBER s)
2(N ROOT book NUMBER p)
)
(VP:
(V ROOT sit)

(PP:
(P ROOT on)
(NP:
1(ART ROOT the)
2(N ROOT table)
)
)
)

Eg: Books sit on the table

S:
(NP NUMBERS
1(N ROOT book NUMBER p)
)
(VP:
(V ROOT sit)

(PP:
(P ROOT on)
(NP:
1(ART ROOT the)
2(N ROOT table)
)
)
)

"a fish":
"a" is a singular indefinite article (determiner).
"fish" is a singular noun.
"the fish":
"the" is a definite article (determiner).
"fish" can be singular or plural depending on the context.
 Constrained Variables are used when a feature (like NUMBER) can only take
certain predefined values, and this is expressed by listing all the possible valid
values.
 The word "fish" can take either a singular or plural form, but we need to
explicitly state that only these two values are possible for the NUMBER feature.
 In your case, "fish" can be used both as a singular and plural noun, but only
those two values are valid for the NUMBER feature.
Example Usage:
Singular: The fish swims in the tank.
NP:
(ART ROOT the NUMBER {s})
(N ROOT fish NUMBER {s})
Plural: The fish are swimming in the tank.
NP:
(ART ROOT the NUMBER {p})
(N ROOT fish NUMBER {p})
Both of these sentences are valid, and the word fish correctly matches either
the singular or plural form depending on the context.

 This works because any value of the NUMBER feature is allowed for the word
fish. In many cases, however, not just any value would work, but a range of
values is possible. To handle these cases, we introduce constrained variables,
which are variables that can only take a value out of a specified list. For
example, the variable ?n{s,p} would be a variable that can take the value s or
the value p. Typically, when we write such variables, we will drop the variable
name altogether and just list the possible values. Given this, the word fish
might be represented by the constituent
(N ROOT fish NUMBER ?n{s p})
or more simply as
(N ROOT fish NUMBER {s p})
Some Basic Feature Systems for English
 Some basic feature systems that are commonly used in grammars of
English and develops the particular set of features. Specifically, it
considers number and person agreement, verb form features, and
features required to handle subcategorization constraints.

1. Number and Person Agreement

 These features specify the relationship between a subject and its verb, ensuring
they match in terms of number (singular or plural) and person (first, second, or
third person).
 Number: Indicates whether the subject is singular or plural.
o Singular (s): Refers to one entity (e.g., "The dog runs").
 o Plural (p): Refers to more than one entity (e.g., "The dogs run").
 Person: Indicates the person (subject) of the verb.
o First Person (1): Refers to the speaker(s) (e.g., "I run," "We run").
o Second Person (2): Refers to the addressee(s) (e.g., "You run").
o Third Person (3): Refers to others, neither the speaker nor the
addressee (e.g., "He runs," "They run").

AGR Feature: Combining Number and Person

 AGR is a unified grammatical feature that combines person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and
number (singular, plural) to specify agreement between sentence elements like
subjects and verbs.
 It has six possible values:
o 1s: First person singular (I).

o 2s: Second person singular (you).

o 3s: Third person singular (he, she, it).

o 1p: First person plural (we).

o 2p: Second person plural (you all, you).

o 3p: Third person plural (they).

CFG with AGR Feature

Grammar Rules:
S -> NP AGR VP (Sentence consists of NP, AGR feature, and
VP)
NP -> ART N AGR | ART Adj N AGR (Noun phrase consists of an article, noun,
and AGR feature)
(Noun phrase consists of an article, adjective,
noun, and AGR feature)
VP -> V AGR
(Verb phrase consists of a verb with an AGR
feature)
V -> ROOT is AGR=3s
(Verb "is" with AGR feature for 3rd person
| ROOT are AGR={2s 1p 2p 3p} singular)

(Verb "are" with AGR feature for 2nd singular,

ART -> the | a 1st plural, 2nd plural, or 3rd plural)

N -> dog | cat | dogs

Adj -> big | small

ROOT -> is | are

Explanation of the Grammar:

 S (Sentence): A sentence consists of a noun phrase (NP), an AGR feature
(agreement), and a verb phrase (VP).
 NP (Noun Phrase): The noun phrase consists of an article (ART), followed by a
noun (N) with the AGR feature. The noun phrase can also contain an adjective
(Adj) before the noun.
 VP (Verb Phrase): The verb phrase consists of a verb (V) with an AGR feature,
which must match the subject's agreement feature in person and number.
  V (Verb): The verbs "is" and "are" have specific AGR features:
o "is" has AGR=3s (third-person singular).
o "are" has AGR as a variable that can range over {2s, 1p, 2p, 3p}
(second-person singular, first-person plural, second-person plural, third-
person plural).
 ART (Article): Articles can be "the" or "a".
 N (Noun): Nouns can be "dog", "cat", or "dogs".
 Adj (Adjective): Adjectives can be "big" or "small".

2. Verb Form Features

Verb form features determine the syntactic behavior of verbs, which are influenced by
tense, aspect, and sometimes mood. The following are common verb form features:
 Tense: Specifies when the action of the verb occurs.
o Present: Action happening currently (e.g., "He runs").
o Past: Action that occurred in the past (e.g., "He ran").
 Aspect: Specifies the completion or duration of an action.
o Progressive (V-ing): Indicates an ongoing action (e.g., "He is running").
o Perfect: Indicates an action that has been completed (e.g., "He has
run").
 Agreement: Verbs also agree with their subjects in person and number.
o Example: "She runs" (3rd person singular) vs. "They run" (3rd person
plural).

Ex: "The young boy ran towards the park"

S -> NP VP (Sentence consists of NP and VP)

NP -> ART Adj N AGR (Noun phrase consists of article, adjective,

ART -> the noun, and AGR feature)
Adj -> young
N -> boy
AGR=3s (Agreement feature for 3rd person singular)

VP -> V AGR TENSE ASPECT PP (Verb phrase consists of verb, AGR, tense,
V -> ROOT ran aspect, and prepositional phrase)
AGR=3s
TENSE=Past (Agreement feature for 3rd person singular)
ASPECT=None
(No aspect, simple action)
PP -> P NP (Prepositional phrase)
P -> towards
NP -> ART N
ART -> the
N -> park

 Simple Aspect:
Present Simple: "She walks."
Past Simple: "He ran."
 Progressive Aspect:
Present Progressive: "She is walking."
Past Progressive: "He was running."
 Perfect Aspect:
Present Perfect: "She has walked."
Past Perfect: "He had run."
 Perfect Progressive Aspect:
Present Perfect Progressive: "She has been walking."
Past Perfect Progressive: "He had been running."
Example Sentence with Progressive Aspect:
 "The boy is running towards the park."
S -> NP VP (Sentence consists of NP and VP)

NP -> ART N AGR (Noun phrase consists of article, noun, and

ART -> the AGR feature)
N -> boy
AGR=3s (Agreement feature for 3rd person singular)

VP -> VBE V-ing PP (Verb phrase consists of auxiliary verb,

present participle, and prepositional phrase)
VBE -> is (Auxiliary verb "is" for progressive aspect)

V-ing -> running (Verb "running" in the present participle

PP-> P NP form)
P -> towards (Prepositional phrase)
NP -> ART N
ART -> the
N -> park

3. Subcategorization Constraints
Subcategorization refers to the requirement of certain verb forms to be followed by
specific arguments or complements (e.g., objects, prepositional phrases, etc.). This
feature is crucial for accurately capturing the syntactic structure of sentences. Here
are some common subcategorization features:
 Transitive Verbs: Require an object (e.g., "She kicks the ball").
o Subcategorization: V: NP (Verb takes a Noun Phrase object).
 Intransitive Verbs: Do not require an object (e.g., "He sleeps").
o Subcategorization: V: (no NP).
 Ditransitive Verbs: Require two objects (e.g., "She gave him a gift").
o Subcategorization: V: NP NP (Verb takes two Noun Phrase objects).
 Prepositional Phrases (PP): Some verbs require or allow a prepositional
phrase (e.g., "He listens to music").
o Subcategorization: V: NP PP (Verb takes a Noun Phrase and a
Prepositional Phrase).