Lexical set

Abstract: It is common practice in computational linguistics to attempt to use selectional constraints and semantic type hierarchies as primary knowledge resources to perform word sense disambiguation (cf. Jurafsky and Martin 2000). The most widely adopted methodology is to start from a given ontology of types (e.g. Wordnet, cf. Miller and Fellbaum 2007) and try to use its implied conceptual categories to specify the combinatorial constraints on lexical items. Semantic Typing information about selectional preferences is then used to guide the induction of senses for both nouns and verbs in texts. Practical results have shown, however, that there are a number of problems with such an approach. For instance, as corpus-driven pattern analysis shows (cf. Hanks et al. 2007), the paradigmatic sets of words that populate specific argument slots within the same verb sense do not map neatly onto conceptual categories, as they often include words belonging to different types. Also, the internal composition of these sets changes from verb to verb, so that no stable generalization seems possible as to which lexemes belong to which semantic type (cf. Hanks and Jezek 2008). In this paper, we claim that these are not accidental facts related to the contingencies of a given ontology, but rather the result of an attempt to map distributional language behaviour onto semantic type systems that are not sufficiently grounded in real corpus data. We report the efforts done within the CPA project (cf. Hanks 2009) to build an ontology which satisfies such requirements and explore its advantages in terms of empirical validity over more speculative ontologies.

Abstract: This paper will be of special interest to teachers concerned with lexical semantics, and those who wish their learners to gain in accuracy and lexical force. It reports on an activity carried out with upper-intermediate and advanced learners to help them increase their word-meaning awareness and expand their active vocabulary. These learners usually manage to communicate satisfactorily, though often by using a very limited lexical code mostly made up of core words. The overuse of these general terms makes their discourse sound poor and even childish, especially in adult learners, and makes them fail to convey different moods, connotations, or specific semantic loads. The activity described here introduces learners to the study of word meaning. It helps them to understand the full semantic content of related words, and so to detect what makes them similar and different from each other. The task consists of collecting a lexical set; studying those of its semantic features and distinguishers which convey unique meanings, and identifying appropriate collocations, contextual limitations, and possible figurative uses.

Abstract: This paper documents the results of a study of color terms produced by Trobriand Islanders. Eleven color stimuli were presented to 60 informants in five different age-groups ranging from approximately 4 to 75 years. These informants, native speakers of Kilivila, live in Tauwema village on Kaileuna Island, one of the Trobriand Islands in Papua New Guinea.The paper first describes the method and the aims of the study. It then discusses the strategies of language production used by the informants, presents the inventory of the lexical set of color terms in Kilivila, and describes the semantic scope of these terms. Finally it discusses aspects of language change in progress that affect this lexical set of color terms in a rather dramatic way.

Abstract: Search processes in word-stem cued recall, fragment completion, perceptual identification, and recognition are contrasted. These retention tests involve letters as cues, but the lexical characteristics of these cues vary considerably. In word-stem cued recall, ending letters are presented as recall cues for studied targets (e.g., ONEY as a cue for HONEY). In fragment completion, the test cues consist of letters and spaces (e.g., HO__Y); in perceptual identification, they consist of letter features that survive the mask; and in recognition, they consist of all the letters of the studied word (e.g., HONEY). These differences in retention tests and lexical characteristics were evaluated by manipulating three variables with known effects in cued recall: (a) the presence of study context words emphasizing lexical information, (b) lexical set size corresponding to the number of words that fit the letter cue, and (c) meaning set size corresponding to the number of meaningful associates linked to the studied targets. The results indicated that (a) the presence of study contexts emphasizing lexical information reduced accuracy and response time equally in all tasks, (b) larger lexical set sizes reduced accuracy and response time in all tasks except recognition, and (c) larger meaning set size reduced accuracy in cued recall but not in the other tasks. Lexical search appears to be a significant component process in word-stem cued recall, fragment completion, and identification. Searching through meaning-related concepts encoded during study is a significant component process only in cued recall.