Subcategorization frame

Revision as of 11:43, 10 September 2009

In the UNL framework, Subcategorization Frames are the number and types of syntactic arguments that co-occurs with the lemma in a sentence.

When to use subcategorization frames

Subcategorization frames are mandatory for words that take one or more syntactic argument, such as:

• intransitive verbs ('sleep', 'rain')
• direct transitive verbs ('kill', 'kiss')
• indirect transitive verbs ('depend', 'rely')
• ditransitive verbs ('give')
• deverbals ('arrival', 'construction')
• adjectives that require a complement ('loyal', 'interested')
• adverbs that require a complement ('contrarily to')
• prepositions ('in', 'after', 'near', 'instead')
• conjunctions ('because', 'and', 'but')

Subcategorization frames are optional for words that take no syntactic argument, such as:

• nouns ('table', 'computer')
• adjectives ('beautiful', 'intelligent')
• adverbs ('yesterday', 'here')
• determiners ('the', 'this')
• pronouns ('he', 'yours')

Syntax of subcategorization frames

Subcategorization frames should be presented as a list of syntactic roles separated by semicolons. Each syntactic role must have the following format:

<SYNTACTIC ROLE> ":=" "(" <SYNTACTIC FEATURES> ")" ";"

where

<SYNTACTIC ROLE> = one of the three pre-defined syntactic roles (see below)

<SYNTACTIC FEATURES> = the list of features required by the lemma

“ “ = constant

Syntactic Roles

There are only three different types of syntactic roles:

Syntactic Features

The syntactic features must be presented in the following format:

<SYNTACTIC CATEGORY> ["," <SYNTACTIC CASE MARKING>] ["," <SYNTACTIC AGREEMENT> ]* ["," <SYNTACTIC GOVERNMENT> ]

Where [ ] indicates optional; " " indicates constant; * indicates that can be repeated 0 or more times

<SYNTACTIC CATEGORY> indicates the syntactic category of the arguments (c-selection). It is mandatory and can assume of the following values:

• • NP = Noun phrase
  • VP = Verbal phrase
  • JP = Adjective phrase
  • AP = Adverbial phrase
  • PP = Prepositional phrase
  • SP = Sentence

<SYNTACTIC CASE MARKING> indicates the syntactic case marking. It is mandatory for arguments and optional to adjuncts. It can assume the following values:

• • ABL = Ablative
  • ACC = Accusative
  • DAT = Dative
  • GNT = Genitive
  • INS = Instrumental
  • LOC = Locative
  • NOM = Nominative

<SYNTACTIC AGREEMENT> indicates the agreement. It is mandatory if there is any agreement between the word and its arguments.

• • >NUM = Assigns number
  • <NUM = Receives number
  • >GEN = Assigns gender
  • <GEN = Receives gender
  • >PER = Assigns person
  • <PER = Receives person

<GOVERNMENT> indicates the adposition (preposition or postposition) required by the word, if any. It should be indicated in relation to the argument.

• • < = left appending (without blank space)
  • << = left appending (with blank space)
  • > = right appending (withou blank space)
  • >> = right appending (with blank space)

Other symbols

[Square brackets] may be used to indicate optional elements: a[b]c = ac, abc

{braces} may be used to indicate alternative elements: a{b,c}d = abd, acd

Examples

Adjectives

• BEAUTIFUL
  • There is no need for a semantic frame.
• LOYAL (TO)
  • COMP:=(PP,"to"<<0);
    • The complement is a prepositional phrase (PP) that is preceded by "to".
• INTERESTED (IN)
  • COMP:=(PP,"in"<<0);
    • The complement is a prepositional phrase (PP) that is preceded by "in".

Adverbs

• HERE
  • There is no need for a semantic frame.
• CONTRARILY (TO)
  • COMP:=(PP,"to"<<0);
    • The complement is a prepositional phrase (PP) that is preceded by "to".

Nouns

• TABLE
  • There is no need for a semantic frame.
• CONSTRUCTION (OF)
  • COMP:=(PP,"of"<<0);
    • The complement is a prepositional phrase (PP) that is preceded by "of".

Prepositions

• NEAR(TO)
  • COMP:=(PP,"to"<<0);
    • The complement is a prepositional phrase (PP) that is preceded by "to".
• IN
  • COMP:=(NP);
    • The complement is a noun phrase (NP).

Verbs

• INTRANSITIVE ("sleep")
  • SPEC:=(NP,NOM,>NUM,>PER);
    • The subject (SPEC) is a noun phrase (NP) that receives the nominative case (NOM) and that assigns the number (>NUM) and the person (>PER) agreement to the head
• COPULA ("be")
  • SPEC:=(NP,NOM,>NUM,>PER); COMP:=({NP,JP}, NOM);
    • The subject (SPEC) is a noun phrase (NP) that receives the nominative case (NOM) and that assigns the number (>NUM) and the person (>PER) agreement to the head, and the complement is either a noun phrase (NP) or an adjective phrase (JP), that receives the nominative case (NOM) as well.
• DIRECT TRANSITIVE ("kill")
  • SPEC:=(NP,NOM,>NUM,>PER); COMP:=(NP,ACC);
    • The subject (SPEC) is a noun phrase (NP) that receives the nominative case (NOM) and that assigns the number (>NUM) and the person (>PER) agreement to the head, and the complement is a noun phrase (NP) that receives the accusative case (NOM).
• INDIRECT TRANSITIVE ("depend")
  • SPEC:=(NP,NOM,>NUM,>PER); COMP:=(PP,ACC,"on"<<0);
    • The subject (SPEC) is a noun phrase (NP) that receives the nominative case (NOM) and that assigns the number (>NUM) and the person (>PER) agreement to the head, and the complement is a prepositional phrase, that receives the accusative case (ACC) and that is preceded by "on".
• DITRANSITIVE ("give")
  • SPEC:=(NP,NOM,>NUM,>PER); COMP:=(NP,ACC); COMP:=(PP,DAT,"to"<<0);
    • The subject (SPEC) is a noun phrase (NP) that receives the nominative case (NOM) and that assigns the number (>NUM) and the person (>PER) agreement to the head, and there are two complements: a noun phrase (NP), that receives the accusative case (ACC), and a prepositional phrase, that receives the dative case (DAT) and is preceded by "to".