Logical grammar with dependencies as categories
The Saussurian notion of a -dyadic- linguistic
sign is reconsidered in the light of Jakobson's
discussions of that concept. Following
Jakobson, a triadic linguistic sign is argued
for, whereby meaning comes to reside in
function or dependency. A
categorial logic is proposed as formalization,
taking dependencies as categories, and using
multimodal techniques. Its operation and
economy of analysis are shown by examples drawn
from word order and the structural realization
of context dependence ("information
packaging").
Geert-Jan M. Kruijff