Deverbal compound noun analysis based on lexical conceptual structure

Abstract

This paper proposes a principled approach for analysis of semantic relations between constituents in compound nouns based on lexical semantic structure. One of the difficulties of compound noun analysis is that the mechanisms governing the decision system of semantic relations and the representation method of semantic relations associated with lexical and contextual meaning are not obvious. The aim of our research is to clarify how lexical semantics contribute to the relations in compound nouns since such nouns are very productive and are supposed to be governed by systematic mechanisms. The results of applying our approach to the analysis of noun-deverbal compounds in Japanese and English show that lexical conceptual structure contributes to the restrictional rules in compounds.