Underspecification

This article is about the linguistic concept. For the mathematical concept, see Indeterminate system.

In theoretical linguistics, underspecification is an analytic strategy in which a linguistic representation omits the value of one or more features, leaving those values to be supplied by general principles (e.g. redundancy rules, harmony, default inheritance, or constraint interaction). The term is used in phonology and phonetics for segmental and suprasegmental features, in morphology for partially specified feature bundles in inflection and syncretism (often in analyses of exponent choice), and in computational semantics and natural-language processing for representing ambiguities (especially scope) without committing to a fully resolved reading (“scope underspecification”).

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