En matchningsdriven semantisk modell. Mellan ordboken och den interna grammatiken

Abstract

This thesis presents Matchningsdriven semantisk modell [Match-driven Semantic Model] (MSM). The Model was developed in order to facilitate the analysis of the semantic structure of corpus data, but the central component, the inventory, is a generalized dictionary. The inventory is intended to store formalized definitions of all kinds of symbolic units supposedly in the internal grammar of an ordinary language user, i.e. constructions of all types. Symbolic units defined in the thesis include the subject, the ditransitive construction, the genitive, the senses of most parts of speech, etc. The same language is used for definitions of units in the inventory and for descriptions of the semantic structure of corpus data.

MSM is a modified version of a lexical model used for the production of print dictionaries, but also for ordinary research in lexical semantics. The direct ancestor is Semantisk databas [Semantic Database], a (partially) formalized and further refined version of Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish]. The inventory is structured in a way that makes it possible to import data from Semantisk databas directly.

An important feature of MSM is that semantic roles are first class semantic units, i.e. they are defined in the same way as other units and have role structures of their own. The most salient features of the definition language is that it includes operators for modification of prominence. The practical result is that common metaphors and metonyms can be defined in a very concise way. Definitions of metaphors are based on radical reductions of the semantic content of the vehicle, thus creating a more abstract category. Definitions of metonyms are based on refocusing, e.g. transforming ``wheels'' into an automobile in one operation. The theoretical basis for the prominence operations is the psycholinguist Glucksberg's metaphor theory.