Lingvisticæ Investigationes - Volume 16, Issue 2, 1992

We have here wanted to show how inadequate monolingual dictionaries can be in providing syntactic information as to the verb arguments and how they pattern together. By examining some verbal classes, we have thus brought to light several deficiencies in the present classificatory procedure of the Oxford Learner's DictionaryOur work ends with a proposal as to a new model of syntactic representation along the lines of the lexicon-grammar approach.

This paper presents an analysis of a subclass of denominal verbs in French, more specifically those which are interpreted as involving an entity which is located with respect to a location. It is shown that (1) when the N on which the verb is formed is a descriptor for a displaced entity, the location where this entity ends up appears in direct object position; (2) When the N on which the verb is formed is a descriptor for a location, the entity which is located appears in direct object position. An analysis of these verbs is developed which accounts for the relation between their conceptual structure, their morphological structure and their argument structure. This analysis relies crucially on the existence of a semantic predicate AFFECT, which is defined as follows: an entity is AFFECTED if the nuclear information of the verb describes a modification of the status of that entity. Real and apparent counterexamples to the analysis are discussed.

It has been proposed that there is a universal principle of grammar denying access to phonological information by syntactic rules (in English, the Principle of Phonology-Free Syntax). This paper examines three cases in French that appear to falsify this principle: (i) the claimed relevance of syllable count in describing the placement of attributive adjectives; (ii) mention of consonantality in stating the agreement rule for adverbial TOUT; and (iii) preposition choice (e.g. EN vs. AU) with geographical proper names. We show using independent evidence that the analyses employing phonology-sensitive syntax are wrong and that the prediction of the universal principle is correct.

A general classification of the inflectional classes of verbs, nouns and adjetives in the lexicon of the Spanish language is presented in this article. This classification has been used to codify the inflectional properties of the verbal, nominal and adjetival entries of the Electronic Dictionary of Simple Forms of Spanish.

A two-step framework for representing collocations in an electronic dictionary (ED) is proposed (with English examples) as an alternative to the current EDR specification, with notable advantages of descriptivity, clarity, and processibility. First, collocations are described in a syntactic sub-tree whose nodes are expressed with syntactic functions. Each node is correlated, by node path, with a bundle of constraint features on all levels of morphology, syntax, and semantics. Then, the sub-tree is distributively represented in an ED by assigning independent word entries to constituents. The relationships among constituents are assured by assigning them the same ID's, subcategorization information, and node path.

The cultural phenomenon of Renaissance "polyglossia" became a very important publishing phenomenon which spread considerably over space — the whole of Central Europe — and time — from the end of the 15th to the middle of the 18th Century.This article examines two sets of multilingual dictionaries, "Solenissimo Vochabuolista" and "Berlaimont", considering both external and internal aspects of these works, such as concrete presentation features of the volumes, number of languages included (twelve different languages, up to eight in one edition), and content evolution. "Solenissimo Vochabuolista" and especially "Berlaimont", are not just dictionaries: they also include prayers, conversations and even patterns of letters and contracts. This touch with reality represents the key factor in their immense popularity with a public of travellers, merchants, people generally interested in the practical knowledge of language/s for the sake of everyday communication.

Based on data from Romance historical phonology, Picard (1990) attempts to demonstrate that the preference theory for syllable structure developed in Vennemann (1988a), Murray (1988), and elsewhere is inadequate. In this response, I argue that Picard's criticisms are vitiated by a number of flaws including a) the fact that he misconstrues basic concepts of preference theory in a number of cases and accordingly develops false extensions which have little relevance to the original theory and b) that his criticism of consonantal strength does not take into consideration different theoretical frameworks. Although some substantive points remain including the status of sibilant plus plosive clusters, the internal structuring of syllables, and Proto-Romance syllabication, I argue that preference theory provides a suitable basis for the fruitful development of research along these lines.