WordNet: An On-line Lexical Database

English verbs as a semantic net

1. Why are verbs harder to organize than nouns?
   Verbs are more polysemous and their meanings more flexible: they shift with the nouns they combine with (have a Mercedes vs have a headache), and the most frequent verbs (have, be, run, make, take) are the most polysemous.
   • Miller et al., 1990, Five Papers on WordNet (Cognitive Science Laboratory, Princeton University (revised 1993; first published in International Journal of Lexicography 3(4), 1990)), English verbs as a semantic net
2. How are WordNet verbs divided into files?
   Into 15 files, mostly semantic domains (verbs of bodily care and functions, change, cognition, communication, competition, consumption, contact, creation, emotion, motion, perception, possession, social interaction, weather), plus one file of stative verbs.
   • Miller et al., 1990, Five Papers on WordNet (Cognitive Science Laboratory, Princeton University (revised 1993; first published in International Journal of Lexicography 3(4), 1990)), English verbs as a semantic net
3. What is troponymy?
   The verb counterpart of hyponymy (Fellbaum and Miller 1990): “To V1 is to V2 in some particular manner”, e.g. limp/walk, lisp/talk, mumble/talk. “Manner” is loose: speed (stroll), force (chop, slam, tap), medium (fax, phone), intention (confess, preach).
   • Miller et al., 1990, Five Papers on WordNet (Cognitive Science Laboratory, Princeton University (revised 1993; first published in International Journal of Lexicography 3(4), 1990)), English verbs as a semantic net
4. Why can’t “an x is a y” test hyponymy for verbs?
   It needs nouns (“to amble is a kind of to walk” is infelicitous), and even with gerunds people reject “Ambling is walking” without qualification; the difference between verbs lies in manner elaborations, hence troponymy.
   • Miller et al., 1990, Five Papers on WordNet (Cognitive Science Laboratory, Princeton University (revised 1993; first published in International Journal of Lexicography 3(4), 1990)), English verbs as a semantic net
5. How is troponymy related to entailment?
   Every troponym entails its superordinate (limping entails walking), and the two activities are temporally co-extensive: one walks every instant one limps. Pairs related by entailment with proper temporal inclusion (snore/sleep, buy/pay) are not troponyms.
   • Miller et al., 1990, Five Papers on WordNet (Cognitive Science Laboratory, Princeton University (revised 1993; first published in International Journal of Lexicography 3(4), 1990)), English verbs as a semantic net
6. What kinds of verb entailment does WordNet distinguish?
   • Miller et al., 1990, Five Papers on WordNet (Cognitive Science Laboratory, Princeton University (revised 1993; first published in International Journal of Lexicography 3(4), 1990)), English verbs as a semantic net
7. What is entailment by backward presupposition?
   The entailed activity always precedes the entailing one: hit and miss both entail aim, succeed and fail entail try, win and lose entail play. There’s no temporal inclusion, so no part–whole statement is possible.
   • Miller et al., 1990, Five Papers on WordNet (Cognitive Science Laboratory, Princeton University (revised 1993; first published in International Journal of Lexicography 3(4), 1990)), English verbs as a semantic net
8. How does WordNet treat causative verbs?
   It links lexicalized causative–resultative pairs (give/have, show/see, teach/learn, fell/fall, raise/rise); the subject of the resultative is the object of the causative. Periphrastic causatives (cause to die) aren’t treated as synonyms of lexical ones (kill), since they express more indirect causation.
   • Miller et al., 1990, Five Papers on WordNet (Cognitive Science Laboratory, Princeton University (revised 1993; first published in International Journal of Lexicography 3(4), 1990)), English verbs as a semantic net
9. How are stative and change verbs organized, compared with other verbs?
   Flatly, like adjectives: mostly by synonymy and opposition (live/die, wake/sleep, include/exclude), with almost no superordinates or troponyms.
   • Miller et al., 1990, Five Papers on WordNet (Cognitive Science Laboratory, Princeton University (revised 1993; first published in International Journal of Lexicography 3(4), 1990)), English verbs as a semantic net