Author: Dalrymple, Mary and Ronald M. Kaplan Date: April 28, 2000 Title: Feature Indeterminacy and Feature Resolution Email: dalrymple@parc.xerox.com Format: Postscript Remarks: Final version, April 2000 Abstract: In description-based grammatical theories such as Lexical Functional Grammar and Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar, features like CASE, PERS, and GEND are often assumed to have simple atomic values that are checked for consistency by the standard predicate of equality. The CASE feature has values such as NOM or ACC, and values like MASC and FEM are assumed for the feature GEND. However, such a view does not square with some of the complex behavior that these features exhibit. It allows no obvious account of feature indeterminacy (how a particular form can satisfy conflicting requirements on a feature like CASE), nor does it give an obvious account of feature resolution (how PERS and GEND features of a coordinate noun phrase are determined on the basis of the conjuncts). We present a theory of feature representation and feature checking which solves these two problems. It provides a straightforward characterization of feature indeterminacy and feature resolution while sticking to structures and standard interpretations that have independent motivation. Our theory of features is formulated within the LFG framework, but we believe that similar solutions can be developed within other description-based syntactic approaches.