Can distributional approaches improve on Good Old-Fashioned Lexical Semantics?
Ann Copestake · 2013
In this position paper, I discuss some linguistic problems that computational work on lexical semantics has attempted to address in the past and the implications for alternative models which incorporate distributional information. I concentrate in particular on phenomena involving count/mass distinctions, where older approaches attempted to use lexical semantics in their models of syntax. I outline methods by which the earlier models allowed the transmission of information between lexical items (regular polysemy and inheritance) and address the possibility that similar techniques could usefully be incorporated into distributional models. 1