Abstract
The article uses the theory of ontological semantics to propose methodological and practical solutions for the acquisition process of selected phrasal verbs. The Knowledge Base Acquisition Editor is adopted as a software for project implementation. Since in ontological semantics, each lexical unit is to be described in terms of its syntactic and semantic structure, the article provides an analysis of both components of representation. At the syntactic level, the pre-established seed templates are adjusted so as to avoid misleading interpretations and to account for causative constructions. At the semantic level, focus is placed on the application of the ontological parametric features of aspect and modality in the meaning representation of phrasal verbs. It is argued that the categories of aspect and modality help grasp the difference between the PV in question and its one-word counterpart. Finally, further research implications are discussed. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sal.0.21.2558
Highlights
The article uses the theory of ontological semantics to propose methodological and practical solutions for the acquisition process of selected phrasal verbs
The present paper explores some of the issues that emerged during the acquisition process, i.e., computerised description of the syntactic structure and the meaning conveyed, of a selection of phrasal verbs in the framework of ontological semantics (OS), a theory of meaning which posits as its major goal applicability both to the study of natural language and computer processing
The acquisition process is grounded on the principle of “complete coverage” whereby each sense is provided with a lexical entry of its own (Nirenburg & Raskin, 2004, p.274)
Summary
The present paper explores some of the issues that emerged during the acquisition process, i.e., computerised description of the syntactic structure and the meaning conveyed, of a selection of phrasal verbs in the framework of ontological semantics (OS), a theory of meaning which posits as its major goal applicability both to the study of natural language and computer processing. Other theoretical premises of the theory have been presented elsewhere (Al-Hashimy, 2007; Televnaja, 2005; Malaia, 2005) and will not be discussed here due to practical constraints In this discussion, the term phrasal verb (PV) is used to refer to a verb-particle combination which satisfies at least one of the criteria specified in Section 1.2 below. This approach is in line with the “rapid propagation” principle of OS (Nirenburg & Raskin, 2004, p.274) Given these theoretical premises, the present article will focus on two aspects pertinent to the acquisition of phrasal verbs in the KBAE: their syntactic representation, i.e., template adjustment, and their semantic representation, i.e., preferences made in the application of OS parameters
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