ABSTRACT
Dynamic syntax (DS) as reflex of the common-sense view of language takes the stance that linguistic knowledge involves the capacity to process natural language input. Based on preliminary assumption, DS attempts to provide formal account of natural language by characterizing its parsing process in which various kinds of linguistic knowledge, such as syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties, contribute to the ultimate goal of interpretation. All human languages display two central properties, which constitute two major problems challenging all linguistic theories. One is compositionality in the sense that individual words can be combined into sentences at arbitrary depths of complexity. The other is context-dependency in the sense that almost every linguistic expression can be taken to express different interpretations in different contexts. DS provides a formal model of natural language interpretation on the assumption that the parsing process is a process of constructing representations.
