Glue semantics, or simplyGlue (Dalrymple et al. 1993; Dalrymple 1999, 2001), is alinguistic theory of semantic composition and thesyntax–semantics interface which assumes that meaning composition is constrained by a set of instructions stated within a formal logic (linear logic). These instructions, calledmeaning constructors, state how the meanings of the parts of a sentence can be combined to provide the meaning of the sentence.
Glue was developed as a theory of thesyntax–semantics interface within the linguistic theory oflexical functional grammar, and most work within Glue has been conducted within that framework. LFG/Glue assumes that the syntactic structure that is most relevant for meaning assembly is the functional structure, a structure which represents abstract syntactic predicate argument structure and relations like subject and object. In this setting, a meaning constructor for anintransitive verb states that the verb combines with the meaning of its subject to produce a meaning for the sentence. This is similar in some respects to the view of the syntax-semantics interface assumed withincategorial grammar, except that abstract syntactic relations likesubject andobject rather than relations such asto-the-left-of are involved in meaningful constructor specifications. Glue analyses within other syntactic formalisms have also been proposed; besides LFG, glue analyses have been proposed withinHPSG,[1]context-free grammar,categorial grammar,tree-adjoining grammar,[2]Minimalism,[3] andDependency Grammar.[4][5]
Glue is a theory of the syntax–semantics interface which is compatible not only with various syntactic frameworks, but also with different theories of semantics and meaning representation. Semantic formalisms that have been used as the meaning languages in glue semantics analyses include versions ofdiscourse representation theory,intensional logic,first-order logic, andnatural semantic metalanguage.
