Argument Structure Constructions in Embodied Construction Grammar
Title | Argument Structure Constructions in Embodied Construction Grammar |
Publication Type | Miscellaneous |
Year of Publication | 2014 |
Authors | Dodge, E. |
Other Numbers | 3785 |
Abstract | The challenges of computationally implementing the complex structures in construction grammar are made both easier and harder by the addition of the deep semantics of Embodied Construction Grammar (ECG). ECG (Feldman et al. 2010) is a unification-based construction grammar in which the mechanisms of unification and binding are extended todeep embodied semantics. The computationally implemented Constructional Analyzer(Bryant 2008) uses an ECG grammar to determine the set of constructions that best fit agiven sentence, taking both formandmeaning into account. The output of the analysis is asemantic specification: a meaning representation in the form of schemas, roles, bindings,and role-filler information. This presentation focuses onArgument Structure (A-S)constructions, which specify general patterns of role expression associated with thedescription of basic scenes (Goldberg 1995, Dodge 2010). The verb and other constituents of an A-S construction supply information about thespecific processes,roles, and role-fillers involved in a given description of a scene.Onechallenge is to formally represent the meanings of A-S constructions and their constituentsin such a way that it is possible to precisely specify how their meanings are integrated; thedevelopment of schema lattices to represent constructional meanings is a key part of thesolution to this problem.Another challenge is to specify constructional constraints thatwill limit the possible patterns of constructional composition (e.g. constraints on whichconstructions can serve as constituents in a given A-S construction, which entities can fill a given role, etc.).This presentation discusses several different types of constructional, form,and meaning constraints within A-S, verb, and nominal constructions that serve thisfunction. |
Bibliographic Notes | Presented at the Computational Construction Grammar Workshop at the 8th International Conference on Construction Grammar (ICCG 8), Osnabrück, Germany |
Abbreviated Authors | E. Dodge |
ICSI Research Group | AI |
ICSI Publication Type | Talk or presentation |