This paper proposes an account of incremental sentence processing and
the initial stage of syntactic ambiguity resolution based on the claim
that the processor seek; to provide semantic interpretations for sent
ence fragments as soon as it possibly can. In this model, there is no
fundamental distinction between local and unbounded dependencies. The
processor employs a version of categorial grammar based on dependency
grammar, in which dependency constituents are derived from dependencie
s between words and are permitted to overlap. The processor seeks to f
orm dependency constituents as soon as it can, and to give interpretat
ions to these fragments immediately. The initial stage of ambiguity re
solution is determined by the principle of dependency formation, under
which the processor automatically chooses an analysis that allows a s
ingle dependency constituent to be formed in preference to one that do
es not The motivation is semantic: Such an analysis maximizes the amou
nt of incremental interpretation that is possible. But if more than on
e analysis is compatible with the formation of a single constituent, t
he processor can appeal to a range of sources of nonsyntactic informat
ion in making ifs choice. I show how this account can capture a range
of psycholinguistic evidence without positing any fundamental distinct
ion between local and unbounded dependencies.