TomarValues

Background

Ever since we re-launched the public DELPH-IN web pages, several of us (in the Standing Committee, and beyond) have felt we should try to produce a mission statement for DELPH-IN, i.e. a comparatively short, concise text that spells out high-level, important (defining, in a sense) aspects of the collaboration.

Candidate Values

DELPH-IN contributors are united by a shared set of values, beliefs, and goals, viz.

• linguistic precision: DELPH-IN continues the tradition of declarative (unification- or constraint-based) formal grammar, with deep roots in Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG).

• syntax and semantics: DELPH-IN studies syntactic structure and the composition of sentence meaning jointly, supporting underspecified logical-form semantic interface representations in Minimal Recursion Semantics (MRS).

• scale and useability: DELPH-IN targets ‘realistic’ language data, facilitating the analysis of running text; its resources are engineered to a degree that enables non-toy, practical applications.

• sustainability and interoperability: Some DELPH-IN grammars have been developed for about four decades; its joint reference formalism enables sustained, incremental development over time and cross-component interoperability.

• collaboration and re-use: DELPH-IN develops and maintains a shared, open-source repository of interoperable tools and grammars, emphasizing transparency of the development process and mechanisms for community involvement.