Generative Lexicon
Encyclopedia
Generative Lexicon is a theory of linguistic semantics which focuses
on the distributed nature of
compositionality in natural language. The first major work outlining the framework is James Pustejovsky
's "Generative Lexicon" (1991). Subsequent important developments are presented in Pustejovsky and Boguraev (1993), Bouillon (1997), and Busa (1996). The first unified treatment of GL was given in Pustejovsky (1995). Unlike purely verb-based approaches to compositionality, Generative Lexicon attempts to spread the semantic load across all constituents of the utterance.
Central to the philosophical perspective of GL are two major lines of inquiry:
(1) How is it that we are able to deploy a finite number of words in
our language in an unbounded number of contexts?
(2) Is lexical information and the representations used in composing
meanings separable from our commonsense knowledge?
for encoding selectional knowledge in natural
language. This in turn required making some changes in the formal
rules of representation and composition. Perhaps the most
controversial aspect of GL has been the manner in which lexically
encoded knowledge is exploited in the construction of interpretations
for linguistic utterances. The
computational resources available to a lexical item within this theory consist of the
following four levels:
associated with a word or phrase in the language, and are defined as follows:
on the distributed nature of
compositionality in natural language. The first major work outlining the framework is James Pustejovsky
James Pustejovsky
James Pustejovsky is a TJX Feldberg professor of computer science at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. His expertises are on Theoretical and computational modeling of language, specifically: Computational linguistics, Lexical semantics, Knowledge representation, temporal reasoning...
's "Generative Lexicon" (1991). Subsequent important developments are presented in Pustejovsky and Boguraev (1993), Bouillon (1997), and Busa (1996). The first unified treatment of GL was given in Pustejovsky (1995). Unlike purely verb-based approaches to compositionality, Generative Lexicon attempts to spread the semantic load across all constituents of the utterance.
Central to the philosophical perspective of GL are two major lines of inquiry:
(1) How is it that we are able to deploy a finite number of words in
our language in an unbounded number of contexts?
(2) Is lexical information and the representations used in composing
meanings separable from our commonsense knowledge?
Motivation
GL was initially developed as a theoretical frameworkfor encoding selectional knowledge in natural
language. This in turn required making some changes in the formal
rules of representation and composition. Perhaps the most
controversial aspect of GL has been the manner in which lexically
encoded knowledge is exploited in the construction of interpretations
for linguistic utterances. The
computational resources available to a lexical item within this theory consist of the
following four levels:
- Lexical Typing Structure: giving an explicit type for a word positioned within a type system for the language;
- Argument Structure: specifying the number and nature of the arguments to a predicate;
- Event Structure: defining the event type of the expression and any subeventual structure it may have; with subevents;
- Qualia Structure: a structural differentiation of the predicative force for a lexical item.
Qualia Structure
The qualia structure, inspired by Moravcsik's (1975) interpretation of the aitia of Aristotle, are defined by Pustejovsky as the modes of explanationassociated with a word or phrase in the language, and are defined as follows:
- formal: the basic category of which distinguishes the meaning of a word within a larger domain;
- constitutive: the relation between an object and its constituent parts;
- telic: the purpose or function of the object, if there is one;
- agentive: the factors involved in the object's origins or ``coming into being.