---
title: "An Underspecified HPSG Representation for Information Structure"
description: "Kuhn instead proposes a single graph-based underspecified representation: Each constituent's meaning… 9 references, cited by 3 papers here."
authors: ["Jonas Kuhn"]
year: 1996
venue: "COLING 1996 Volume 2: The 16th International Conference on Computational Linguistics"
source: "https://aclanthology.org/C96-2113/"
licence: "CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 (ACL Anthology, before 2016)"
licence_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/"
summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License"
canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/kuhn-1996-underspecified-hpsg-representation-information-structure/"
---
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# An Underspecified HPSG Representation for Information Structure

**Authors:** [Jonas Kuhn](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/jonas-kuhn/) · **Year:** 1996 · **Venue:** [COLING 1996 Volume 2: The 16th International Conference on Computational Linguistics](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/coling/) ([COLING 1996](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/coling/1996/)) · **Licence:** [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 (ACL Anthology, before 2016)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)

**Links:** [Publisher's page](https://aclanthology.org/C96-2113/) · [PDF](https://aclanthology.org/C96-2113.pdf) · [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W1978943992)

**Citations:** 9 citations (OpenAlex, 2026-10-14) · [3](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/kuhn-1996-underspecified-hpsg-representation-information-structure/cited-by/) in our library, of the 149,439 papers whose bibliographies we read

## Summary
The paper tackles a computational problem with information structure (IS). In German, and similarly in English, a given pitch-accent pattern usually fits several possible focus structures. Existing accounts, including the HPSG treatment by Engdahl/Vallduví (1994), list these readings as disjunctive alternatives. Those alternatives then multiply with every other ambiguity in the sentence.

Kuhn instead proposes a single graph-based underspecified representation:
- Each constituent's meaning is a node.
- Edges lead toward two partitions, focus (FOC) and background (BG).
- Edges are either obligatory or defeasible.

HPSG principles build this graph compositionally from accenting and from F-projection rules adapted from Selkirk (1995). Context then resolves it, using Schwarzschild's (1995) notion of givenness, defined as entailment by prior discourse, together with an F-skeleton. Contextual entailment adds obligatory links that override defeasible ones, and this can collapse the graph into one fully specified IS.

The motivation comes from text-to-speech and speech translation. In these settings even partial IS information can settle choices such as:
- accent placement in the output,
- the translation of the particle *noch*,
- the lexical sense of *Besuch* ("visit" vs "visitors").

## Key points
- **Target applications:** text-to-speech and sentence-based speech translation with semantic transfer. Ignoring IS there can produce output that is truth-conditionally correct but contextually misleading.
- **Scale of the problem:** a short German sentence with two accents already yields nine alternative F-markings under the projection rules. This is the motivation for a compact encoding.
- **Graph links:**
  - Solid arrows are called `h_link` (obligatory).
  - Dashed arrows are called `s_link` (defeasible).
  - A chain of links that reaches FOC is what licenses focus.
- **New HPSG features:** the CONT type gains O-SEM, F-SKEL, IS-CSTR and MAX-F, and phonology gains PROM (accented/unaccented).
- **Principles:**
  - Focus Linking
  - Head F-Projection
  - Indirect Head F-Marking
  - Background Linking
  - F-Skeleton Instantiation
  - the F-Skeleton Principle
- **Avoid F becomes unnecessary:** the design makes Schwarzschild's "Avoid F" filter redundant. The author also questions that filter on pragmatic grounds.

## Interesting ideas
- Instead of enumerating every reading, the paper keeps one graph whose edges are marked strict or defeasible, and lets later evidence harden edges until the ambiguity disappears; this avoids a combinatorial explosion of readings.
- A partly resolved representation already supports some decisions, such as choosing the sense of *Besuch*, while other questions stay open; the paper recommends resolving only when a task actually needs it.
- Givenness is tested by whether the context entails an F-skeleton, the meaning with its focused parts replaced by variables; this explains narrow focus even when a question seems to ask for broad focus.
- The links to FOC and BG come from accenting, while the links between constituents come from grammar alone, regardless of prosody; this cleanly separates evidence sources that are combined in one structure.
- Information structure is used to pick between translation or realization alternatives that are logically equivalent but differ in context fit, as with accenting and the particle *noch*.

## For Mova

How these ideas could serve Mova, our small open language model — its files, stages and tests:

- **I1** (frames): Speech-act or focus ambiguity could be stored as defeasible links on frame nodes and only firmed up when the discourse supplies evidence, rather than forking frames.
- **I2** (answer): Readers could query the underspecified structure lazily and resolve only the part relevant to the question being answered, saving work and keeping explanations short.
- **I3** (world): The world model could check whether an utterance's skeleton like "photographed a X rose" is already entailed, marking which entities are new versus given for coreference and state tracking.
- **I4** (tree): Projection links derived from UD head/complement relations could be computed once per tree and then combined with separate cues, such as emphasis markup or italics, without re-parsing.
- **I5** (back): Generation from the meaning graph could consult FOC/BG partitions to choose word order, emphasis or particles so regenerated text fits its context, not just its truth conditions.

*Our summary of the paper, in our own words — not its text. The work belongs to its authors; read it at the links above.*

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- [University of Stuttgart](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/university-of-stuttgart/) — University, Stuttgart, Germany · 91 works · 46,376 citations

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## Cite

Cite as: Jonas Kuhn. 1996. An Underspecified HPSG Representation for Information Structure. COLING 1996 Volume 2: The 16th International Conference on Computational Linguistics.

The paper itself, not this page. BibTeX from the library's record of the work.

```bibtex
@inproceedings{kuhn1996underspecified,
  title = {{An Underspecified HPSG Representation for Information Structure}},
  author = {Jonas Kuhn},
  booktitle = {COLING 1996 Volume 2: The 16th International Conference on Computational Linguistics},
  year = {1996},
  doi = {10.3115/993268.993285},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3115/993268.993285}
}
```

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## References

9 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet.

1. Eberle, Kurt (1996): "Disambiguation by information structure in DRT," COLING-96 (this conference). [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Eberle%2C+Kurt+%281996%29%3A+%22Disambiguation+by+information+structure+in+DRT%2C%22+COLING%2D96+%28this+conference%29%2E)
2. Engdahl, Elisabet, Enric VallduW (1994): "Information packaging and grammar architecture: A constraint-based approach," in: Engdahl, E. (ed.): Integrating information structure into constraint-based and eategorial approaches (DVANA-2 Report R.1.3.B). ILLC, Amsterdam. 39 79. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Engdahl%2C+Elisabet%2C+Enric+VallduW+%281994%29%3A+%22Information+packaging+and+grammar+architecture%3A+A+constraint%2Dbased+approach%2C%22+in%3A+Engdahl%2C+E%2E+%28ed%2E%29%3A+Integrating+information+structure+into+constraint%2Dbased+a)
3. HShle, Tilman (1982): "Explikation fiir 'normale Betonung' und 'nor•ale Wortstellung'," in: Abraham, W. (ed.): Satzglieder im Deutsehen. Tiibingen: Gunther Narr Verlag. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=HShle%2C+Tilman+%281982%29%3A+%22Explikation+fiir+%27normale+Betonung%27+und+%27nor%E2%80%A2ale+Wortstellung%27%2C%22+in%3A+Abraham%2C+W%2E+%28ed%2E%29%3A+Satzglieder+im+Deutsehen%2E+Tiibingen%3A+Gunther+Narr+Verlag%2E)
4. Jacobs, Joachim (1994): "Informational Autonomy." In: Bosch, P. and R. van der Sandt (eds.): Focus and Natural Language Processing. Working Paper 6, ILL, IBM Heidelberg. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Jacobs%2C+Joachim+%281994%29%3A+%22Informational+Autonomy%2E%22+In%3A+Bosch%2C+P%2E+and+R%2E+van+der+Sandt+%28eds%2E%29%3A+Focus+and+Natural+Language+Processing%2E+Working+Paper+6%2C+ILL%2C+IBM+Heidelberg%2E)
5. Kuhn, Jonas (1996): "Context effects on.interpretation and intonation". Ms. Institut fib maschinelle Sprachverarbeitung, Universit~t Stuttgart. ( f t p : / / ftp. ims. uni-stuttgart, de/pub/papers/kuhn/) [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Kuhn%2C+Jonas+%281996%29%3A+%22Context+effects+on%2Einterpretation+and+intonation%22%2E+Ms%2E+Institut+fib+maschinelle+Sprachverarbeitung%2C+Universit%7Et+Stuttgart%2E+%28+f+t+p+%3A+%2F+%2F+ftp%2E+ims%2E+uni%2Dstuttgart%2C+de%2Fpub%2Fpapers%2Fkuh)
6. Pollard, Carl, Ivan Sag (1994): Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar. University of Chicago Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Pollard%2C+Carl%2C+Ivan+Sag+%281994%29%3A+Head%2DDriven+Phrase+Structure+Grammar%2E+University+of+Chicago+Press%2E)
7. Rooth, Mats (1985): "Association with Focus," PhD thesis. University of Massachusetts, Amherst. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Rooth%2C+Mats+%281985%29%3A+%22Association+with+Focus%2C%22+PhD+thesis%2E+University+of+Massachusetts%2C+Amherst%2E)
8. Selkirk, Elisabeth (1995): "SenteIlce Prosody: Intonation, Stress and Phrasing," In: Goldsmith, J. A. (ed.): Itandbook of Phonological Theory, Basil Blackwell. London. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Selkirk%2C+Elisabeth+%281995%29%3A+%22SenteIlce+Prosody%3A+Intonation%2C+Stress+and+Phrasing%2C%22+In%3A+Goldsmith%2C+J%2E+A%2E+%28ed%2E%29%3A+Itandbook+of+Phonological+Theory%2C+Basil+Blackwell%2E+London%2E)
9. Schwarzschild, Roger (1995): "On Givenness," Handout of talk presented at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Schwarzschild%2C+Roger+%281995%29%3A+%22On+Givenness%2C%22+Handout+of+talk+presented+at+University+of+Massachusetts%2C+Amherst%2E)

*Updated 29 October 2026*