Václava Kettnerová

Czech Verbs of Communication with respect to the Types of Dependent Content Clauses

Czech Verbs of Communication with respect to the Types of Dependent Content Clauses The present paper describes a classification of Czech verbs of communication based on the information on the type of dependent content clauses which these verbs require to be complemented by. We distinguish assertive, interrogative and directive verbs of communication. Furthermore, we propose a method how to treat those verbs of communication which behave ‘neutrally’ with respect to the type of dependent content clauses.

Advanced searching in the valency lexicons using PML-TQ search engine

This paper presents a sophisticated way to search valency lexicons. We provide a visualization of lexicons with such built-in searching that allows users to draw sophisticated queries in a graphical mode. We exploit the PML-TQ, a query language based on the tree editor TrEd. For demonstration purposes, we focus on VALLEX and PDT-VALLEX, two Czech valency lexicons of verbs. We propose a common lexicon data format supported by PML-TQ. This format offers easy viewing both lexicons, parallel searching and interlinking them. The proposed method is universal and can be used for other hierarchically structured lexicons.

The representation of diatheses in the valency lexicon of Czech verbs

In the present paper, we deal with diatheses in Czech from a lexicographic point of view. We propose a method of their description in the valency lexicon of Czech verbs VALLEX. We distinguish grammatical and semantic diatheses as two typologically different changes in verbal valency structure. In case of grammatical diatheses, these changes are regular enough to be described by formal syntactic rules. In contrast, the changes in valency structure of verbs associated with semantic diatheses vary even within one type of diathesis. Thus for the latter type, we propose to set separate valency frames corresponding to their members and to capture the changes in verbal valency structure by lexical rules based on an adequate lexical-semantic representation of verb meaning.

Semantic Roles in Valency Lexicon of Czech Verbs: Verbs of Communication and Exchange

We introduce a project to enhance a valency lexicon of Czech verbs with semantic roles. For this purpose, we make use of FrameNet. At the present stage, frame elements from FrameNet have been mapped to valency complementations of verbs of communication and verbs of exchange. The feasibility of this task has been proven by the achieved inter-annotator agreement --- 95.6% for the verbs of communication and 91.2% for the verbs of exchange. As a result, we have obtained 37 semantic roles for the verbs of communication and 34 for the verbs of exchange, based on frame elements of upper level semantic frames from FrameNet.

The Rule-Based Approach to Czech Grammaticalized Alternations

Under the term grammaticalized alternations, we understand changes in valency frames of verbs corresponding to different surface syntactic structures of the same lexical unit of a verb. Czech grammaticalized alternations are expressed either (i) by morphological means (diatheses), or (ii) by syntactic means (reciprocity). These changes are limited to changes in morphemic form(s) of valency complementations; moreover, they are regular enough to be captured by formal syntactic rules.

Semantic Classes in Czech Valency Lexicon

We introduce a project aimed at enhancing a valency lexicon of Czech verbs with coherent semantic classes. For this purpose, we make use of FrameNet, a semantically oriented lexical resource. At the present stage, semantic frames from FrameNet have been mapped to two groups of verbs with divergent semantic and morphosyntactic properties, verbs of communication and verbs of exchange. The feasibility of this task has been proven by the achieved inter-annotator agreement --- 85.9% for the verbs of communication and 78.5% for the verbs of exchange. As a result of our experiment, the verbs of communication have been classified into nine semantic classes and the verbs of exchange into ten classes, based on upper level semantic frames from FrameNet.

Enriching VALLEX with Light Verbs: From Theory to Data and Back Again

Abstract This paper summarizes results of a theoretical analysis of syntactic behavior of Czech light verb constructions and their verification in the linguistic annotation of a large amount of these constructions. The concept of LVCs is based on the observation that nouns denoting actions, states, or properties have a strong tendency to select semantically underspecified verbs, which leads to a specific rearrangement of valency complementations of both nouns and verbs in the syntactic structure. On the basis of the description of deep and surface syntactic properties of LVCs, a formal model of their lexicographic representation is proposed here. In addition, the resulting data annotation, capturing almost 1,500 LVCs, is described in detail. This annotation has been integrated in a new version of the VALLEX lexicon, release 3.5.

ParaDi: Dictionary of Paraphrases of Czech Complex Predicates with Light Verbs

We present a new freely available dictionary of paraphrases of Czech complex predicates with light verbs, ParaDi. Candidates for single predicative paraphrases of selected complex predicates have been extracted automatically from large monolingual data using word2vec. They have been manually verified and further refined. We demonstrate one of many possible applications of ParaDi in an experiment with improving machine translation quality.

Deverbal Nouns in Czech Light Verb Constructions

In this paper, we provide a well-founded description of Czech deverbal nouns in both nominal and verbal structures (light verb constructions), based on a complex interaction between the lexicon and the grammar. We show that light verb constructions result from a regular syntactic operation. We introduce two interlinked valency lexicons, NomVallex and VALLEX, demonstrating how to minimize the size of lexicon entries while allowing for the generation of well-formed nominal and verbal structures of deverbal nouns.

Mapping Semantic Information from FrameNet onto VALLEX

Mapping Semantic Information from FrameNet onto VALLEX In this article, we introduce a project aimed at enhancing a valency lexicon of Czech verbs with semantic information. For this purpose, we make use of FrameNet, a semantically oriented lexical resource. At the present stage, semantic frames from FrameNet have been mapped to eight groups of verbs with various semantic and syntactic properties. The feasibility of this task has been verified by the achieved inter-annotator agreement measured on two semantically and syntactically different groups of verbs - verbs of communication and exchange (85.9% and 78.5%, respectively). Based on the upper level semantic frames from the relation of ‘Inheritance’ built in FrameNet, the verbs of these eight groups have been classified into more coherent semantic classes. Moreover, frame elements from these upper level semantic frames have been assigned to valency complementations of the verbs of the listed groups as semantic roles. As in case of semantic frames, the achieved interannotator agreement concerning assigning frame elements measured on verbs of communication and exchange has been promising (95.6% and 91.2%, respectively). As a result, 1 270 lexical units pertaining to the verbs of communication, mental action, psych verbs, social interaction, verbs of exchange, motion, transport and location (2 129 Czech verbs in total if perfective and imperfective verbs being counted separately) have been classified into syntactically and semantically coherent classes and their valency complementations have been characterized by semantic roles adopted from the FrameNet lexical database.