| Linking as Constraints on Word Classes in a Hierarchical Lexicon (1999) | |||||||||||||||
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| In this paper, we propose an alternative account of linking patterns which does away with intermediary mechanisms such as thematic or actor/undergoer hierarchies. The basis of this theory is constraints on word classes, defined by both syntactic and semantic criteria, which encode generalizations between semantic roles and syntactic arguments. We show that the generalizations a linking theory needs to capture can be modeled via the same mechanisms as other lexical generalizations. In particular, we posit a set of hierarchically organized conditions, specified on word classes. Each condition provides a partial specification of the mapping between semantic roles and syntactic arguments. We argue that this constraint, verb-class-based view of linking present several empirical advantages: partial regularities and exceptions are easily accomodated, fine-grained semantic distinctions relevant to linking are countenanced, cross-cutting similarities between semantic and syntactic verb classes ... | |||||||||||||||
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