Free Indexation: Combinatorial Analysis and a Compositional Algorithm

Sandiway Fong

Abstract: The principle known as 'free indexation' plays an important role in the determination of the referential properties of noun phrases in the principle-and-parameters language framework. First, by investigating the combinatorics of free indexation, we show that the problem of enumerating all possible indexings requires exponential time. Secondly, we exhibit a provably optimal free indexation algorithm.