head-driven phrase-structure grammar (HPSG)

A SYNTACTIC theory which builds on the insights of GENERALIZED PHRASE-STRUCTURE GRAMMAR, CATEGORIAL grammar and certain other approaches. A central feature is that categories incorporate information about the categories with which they combine. The consequence of this is that very few RULES are necessary, all important syntactic and SEMANTIC processes being driven by information contained in LEXICAL entries. For example, a single rule provides for all lexical category + COMPLEMENT structures.