Rethinking and formalising the state across languages: a unified computational learning theory account

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2608.00523v2
• Date: Thu, 06 Aug 2026 22:01:55 GMT
• Title: Rethinking and formalising the state across languages: a unified computational learning theory account
• Abstract summary: Article argues that the state is a context-dependent morphosyntactic mechanism that selects grammatical templates across synthetic languages.<n>A learning algorithm based on finite-set operations acquires and predicts state-dependent grammatical configurations.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Abstract: The linguistic notion of state has traditionally been restricted to the construct (annexation) state of Afroasiatic languages and treated as a language-specific morphosyntactic phenomenon. This article argues instead that the state is a systemic, context-dependent morphosyntactic mechanism that selects grammatical templates across synthetic languages. Within the Template-Based Modular Cognitive framework, taking Riffian as its primary empirical basis, the proposed theory provides a unified explanation for diverse nominal marking patterns traditionally analysed independently and is formalised as a symbolic computational model in which the state is represented by a set-valued function over grammatical templates. A learning algorithm based on finite-set operations acquires and predicts state-dependent grammatical configurations. Beyond nominal morphology, the framework has broader implications for theories of nominal structure and lexical cognition, in particular offering a unified analysis of determiner-noun structure. These results suggest that the state constitutes one instance of a broader class of syntactically conditioned dependencies that also includes agreement and grammatical case.

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