Lexical functions vs. inflectional functions
Maarten Janssen · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · 2009
Lexical Functions define structural relations between word-senses, based on semantic criteria. Inflectional functions, on the other hand, define derivational relations between words and their derived forms from a functional or semantic perspective. Inflectional functions are inspired upon lexical functions, and in many cases, the two types of functions define the same type of relations between the same pairs of words, but at a different level: the inflectional functions operate at the level of the lexical entry, the lexical functions at the level of the word-sense. This paper provides an overview of the similarities and differences between inflectional and lexical functions, and discuss the advantages and limitations of the use of inflectional functions in large-scale morphological databases.