A generalized parsing framework for Abstract Grammars

TL;DR

This paper introduces a unified parsing framework based on Abstract Grammars that can handle various grammar formalisms, including CFGs and GCFGs, enabling flexible and broad language parsing capabilities.

Contribution

The paper proposes a novel Abstract Grammar formalism and a universal parsing framework capable of processing multiple grammar types within a single system.

Findings

Successfully unifies parsing of multiple grammar formalisms

Capable of parsing at least up to GCFGs hierarchy

Provides a flexible interface for different grammar formalisms

Abstract

This technical report presents a general framework for parsing a variety of grammar formalisms. We develop a grammar formalism, called an Abstract Grammar, which is general enough to represent grammars at many levels of the hierarchy, including Context Free Grammars, Minimalist Grammars, and Generalized Context-free Grammars. We then develop a single parsing framework which is capable of parsing grammars which are at least up to GCFGs on the hierarchy. Our parsing framework exposes a grammar interface, so that it can parse any particular grammar formalism that can be reduced to an Abstract Grammar.