Underspecified Semantics in HPSG

Abstract

Theories of semantic underspecification assign semantically ambiguous sentences a unique semantic representation. In computational applications of natural language processing, the need for a compact representation arises in order to avoid potentially highly disjunctive specifications of different readings which scope ambiguities may introduce. Typical instances of ambiguities treated by underspecification are scope ambiguities of adjectives in NPs with respect to PPs as illustrated in (la), and different possible scopings of a quantifier with respect to some other scope-bearing element in sentences like (lb) (cf. Pinkal, 1995; Reyle, 1993).