Meaningful grammar is binary, local, anti-symmetric, recursive and incomplete

Meaning is computed best in the context of explicit grammar. Automated grammar for parsing and generation is formal. Its representations and its architecture are determined by the interaction of form and meaning. Serious form and serious meaning, however, cannot be projected on each other. Therefore, the representations and techniques for automation of grammar had better be as strict as possible, to limit the degree of imprecision and to maximize the linguistic coverage. In this article, we identify five aspects of formal grammar that according to our experience with grammar-in-action are worth to be observed when targeting logical form. Three aspects concern rules and representations: binarity, antisymmetry and locality. Two aspects relate to the architecture of meaningful grammar: recursion and incompleteness.