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Preliminary Recommendations

Slots

Slots provide information about subcategorised elements. Slots are defined by:

Slot realisations

Slot realisations are characterised syntactically and semantically by:

A slot realisation carries also some information concerning the relation of the realisation with the other slots of the frame or to the lexical unit itself:

Alternative realisations

Alternative slot realisations are represented as a disjunction of slot realisations associated with one slot. This makes it possible to represent with a single frame uses of the same verb which differ with respect to the realisation of a single complement. The next two paragraphs illustrate this for objective and predicative complements.

Objective complements and their different realisations: NP, that-clause, infinitival

(46)displaymath7522  He expected some profits(NP)

(47)displaymath7522  He expected to make some profits(Infinitival)

(48)displaymath7522  He expected that they will make some profits(That-clause)

Predicative complements and their different realisations: AP, PP, NP, VP

(49)displaymath7522  He seemed happy(AP)

(50)displaymath7522  He seemed the happiest person in the world(NP)

(51)displaymath7522  He seemed in good shape(PP)

(52)displaymath7522  He seemed to be happy(VP)

Optionality

Some verbs do not allow any of their complements to be omitted, whereas others do, e.g.

(53)displaymath7522  Eve ate (an apple)

(54)displaymath7522 Mariearriveàpartir
 Mariesucceedstoleave
 `Marie managed to leave'

(55)displaymath7522 MariearriveParis)
 MariearriveinParis
 `Marie is arriving (in Paris)'

In those cases where one or more complements can be omitted, the possibility of indicating optionality at the slot level allows us to represent, with one frame, uses of the same verb varying minimally in syntactic valency. Optionality is a property of a slot in a frame: there is no restriction on its meaning, and, in particular, if some optionality could be constrained by some realisation of some other slot of the frame, then this is a criterion for splitting into two (or more) different frames.

Categorial and morphosyntactic information

The syntagmatic label information is the main information that characterises the syntactic property of a slot realisation. A list of labels for constituents is offered (as part of the primitive set the description is based on), and more refined information on distribution can be expressed by adding constraints expressed through valued features.

Grammatical relations or functions

Function is one of the mandatory syntactic characteristics of slot realisation. Function expresses the syntactic relation linking the realisation to the verb that subcategorises for it. Function is characterised by

Semantic class

Semantic class is one of the non mandatory semantic characteristics of slot realisation. The semantic class expresses a restriction on the semantic interpretation of the slot realisation as belonging to a certain semantic class and semantically constrains the set of possible realisations. Semantic class is characterised by

Thematic role

Thematic role is one of the non mandatory semantic characteristics of slot realisation. The thematic role expresses the role of the slot realisation in the set of semantic participants of the situation or event associated with the frame. Thematic role is characterised by



next up previous contents
Next: Self Up: Introduction to the concept Previous: Frames