Mutiword Expressions: An Extremist Approach

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Mutiword ExpressionsAn Extremist Approach

• Charles J. Fillmore
• ICSI and UCB

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Backgroundor, Why Do I Care?

• FrameNet Project
• How to evaluate progress
• "Words" versus LUs complain, take off, depend on
• Search problems and word frequency
• General questions of polysemy
• Some corpus linguistics traditions
• Certain technical problems of representation
  parcelling out meanings
• MWEs and the rest of the grammar
• Estimation of vocabulary size
• Questions of acquisition, typology, etc.

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What is a MWE?

• Any linguistic expression, involving more than
  one word, that requires an interpreter human or
  machine to have more than the abilities of an
  "Innocent Speaker-Hearer".
• The concept is not limited to lexicalized
  (listable) expressions.

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Innocent Speaker-Hearer

• The ISH knows
• individual simple lexical units,
• the basic head-to-dependent grammatical
  relations,
• the basic head-to-dependent semantic relations as
  determined by the frame of the governing lexical
  unit,
• regular and specific rules for realizing these,
• strategies for building a semantic structure out
  of all this.
• That's all it knows.

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Dependency Representation

• Since ISH's knowledge is about
• unitary words and
• word-to-word relations,
• that can be represented in dependency diagrams in
  
• which each node is a word and
• each word-to-word link, i.e., each branch,
• stands for one of the basic grammatical relations
  and
• is capable of bearing a frame-based semantic
  relation to the governor.

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Here's a simple case

• His parents gave me a copy of that fascinating
  book about frogs.

gave
parents
me
copy
his
a
of
book
that
fascinating
about
frogs
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Basic syntactic relations

• Complementation
• Specification
• Modification
• (there are others)

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Complementation

• His parents gave me a copy of that fascinating
  book about frogs.

gave
parents
me
copy
his
a
of
book
that
fascinating
about
frogs
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Complementation

• His parents gave me a copy of that fascinating
  book about frogs.

gave
Actually, copy of should be treated as a MWE.
parents
me
copy
his
a
of
book
that
fascinating
about
frogs
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Specification

• His parents gave me a copy of that fascinating
  book about frogs.

gave
parents
me
copy
his
a
of
book
that
fascinating
about
frogs
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Specification

• His parents gave me a copy of that fascinating
  book about frogs.

gave
parents
me
copy
his
a
of
Actually his can also be thought of as
satisfying a frame requirement of the relational
noun parents.
book
that
fascinating
about
frogs
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Modification

• His parents gave me a copy of that fascinating
  book about frogs.

gave
parents
me
copy
his
a
of
book
that
fascinating
about
frogs
13
So ...

• The study of MWEs proceeds by examining meaning
  units of the language that do not lend themselves
  to such a simple treatment.
• (Consider a parser.)

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Where the ISH idealization fails

• Some apparent MWEs are best analyzed as single
  words, occupying one node.
• Some MWEs are the product of "non-core"
  constructions and semi-independent mini-grammars.
• Some MWEs are the products of "regular" processes
  but have institutionally stipulated meanings.
• Some MWEs can be represented as dependency
  subgraphs (not "just" word strings, or collocate
  sets).

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Where the ISH idealization fails

• Some apparent MWEs are best analyzed as single
  words, occupying one node.
• Some MWEs are the product of "non-core"
  constructions and semi-independent mini-grammars.
• Some MWEs are the products of "regular" processes
  but have institutionally stipulated meanings.
• Some MWEs can be represented as dependency
  subgraphs (not "just" word strings, or collocate
  sets).

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1. "Runs"
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Runs"

• There are things that look like MWEs (that are
  written as sequences of words), but they have no
  internal variation and may just as well be
  thought of as long words with spaces in them.
• Examples
• used to, let alone, of course, all of a sudden,
  first off
• Many are easily mislearned
• used to used of
• by and large by in large
• to all intents and purposes to all intensive
  purposes
• an arm and a leg a nominal egg

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2. Special Constructions
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Special Constructions

• Some common grammatical constructions require
  structures that go beyond the "core" provisions
  of a grammar. Consider the structure of
• the faster we drive the sooner we'll get there
• what's this scratch doing on my violin?
• she's older than any of us realized
• she wouldn't give her mother a nickel let alone a
  dollar

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Minigrammars

• Some MWEs are generated by simple generative
  structures, usually finite state automata, for
  which dependency or constituency
  representations are not always relevant.
• Names
• Numbers
• Locations (addresses, coordinates)
• Time Expressions
• Kinterms

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Personal Names

• Reverend Dr T. Allen Hampton-Smith III
• Components titles, honorifics, given names,
  patronymics, family names, extensions, ...

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English Kinterms

• grandfather, great grandfather, great great
  grandfather, etc.
• first cousin, second cousin, third cousin
• first cousin once removed, second cousin three
  times removed, etc.
• father-in-law, son-in-law, sister-in-law, etc.

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siblings
X
24
cousins
X
25
second cousins
X
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first cousins once removed
X
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first cousins twice removed
X
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Digression

• Ordinary techniques of computational
  linguistics/corpus linguistics won't be able to
  recognize the constructional nature of some
  expressions.
• Test case
• another 600

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(No Transcript)
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But how do we analyze "another 600"?
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But how do we analyze "another 600"?
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Relations to the rest of the grammar

• It would be most convenient if the products of
  minigrammars could be "sealed" and not interfere
  with the rest of the sentence. But
• Croatian names
• Finnish numbers
• Internal grammar

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3. Stipulated Designations
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Translucent Idiomsregular productions with
stipulated designations

• From one point of view these are just "long
  words" with special meanings, but they are
  semantically penetrable e.g.,
• names of organizationsThe American Society for
  the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. (ASPCA)
• names of titlesDeputy Undersecretary of Defense
  for Intelligence
• names of officially designated crimesassaulting
  a federal officer with a deadly or lethal weapon

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4. Dependency Subgraphs
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Dependency Subgraphs

• Here we refer to lexical units that are
  continuous parts of dependency structures.

x
x
x
y
y
z
y
z
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Dependency Subgraphs

• A given lexical unit of this kind can have its
  own subcategorization requirements.

x
x
x
A
A
y
y
z
y
A
z
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(Motivating digression)

• word strings - "wrist watch" - how to find -
  statistical significance ("of the")
• discontinuous - "collocates" - within spans -
  within sentences
• some kind of grammatical relation between them?

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Subcategorization Details
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Particle Verbs - Intransitive

• Verb particle is the lexical unit.
• Exx wake up, go away, sit down, shut up,
• Interruptible Shut the hell up!

V
X
part
shut
up
X
shut
up
the_hell
shut
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Particle Verbs - Transitive
V

• Verb particle is the lexical unit.
• Exx take off ('remove'), take out ('date'),
• Interruptible Take your shoes off.I took her
  out once.

X
part
Y
take
off
X
Y
take
off
your shoes
take
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In the Old Days ...

• About half a century ago it was generally
  believed that in Deep Structure, phrases like
  pick up, take off, etc., started out as single
  constituents, and a Particle Movement
  Transformation allowed the extraction of the
  particle so that it could follow the direct
  object.
• take off your shoes take your shoes
  off
• A dependency subgraph can recognize the unity of
  the two-word block without worrying about phrasal
  constituency.

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Prepositional Verbs - Intransitive
V

• Verb preposition is the lexical unit.
• Exx look for ('seek'), object to ('oppose'),
  look into ('investigate')
• Interruptible I looked long and hard for the
  perfect wife.We objected strenuously to her
  proposal.
• Comment Some PPs are omissible, some aren't.
  look (for), look into

X
prep
Y
look
X
for
Y
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PP Omissibility

• Omissible (under conditions of zero anaphora)
• Look at it!- I'm looking.
• Look for it.- I'm looking.

• Non-omissible
• Could you look into this problem for me?- I've
  already started looking.

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Prepositional Verbs - Transitive
V

• Verb preposition is the lexical unit.
• Exx talk into ('persuade'), rid of
• Comment PP is sometimes omissible The judge
  cleared me (of all charges).They tried to talk
  me (into quitting my job).Who will rid me (of
  this meddlesome priest)?

X
prep
Y
Z
clear
X
of
Y
Z
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Particle--Preposition Verbs

• Verb part,prep is the lexical unit.
• Exx put up with ('tolerate'), look up to
  ('respect'), break in on ('interrupt')
• Not generally interruptible, I think (haven't
  checked corpus data).

V
X
part
prep
Y
put
up
X
with
Y
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VNP Verbs

• Verb /N,prep/ is the lexical unit.
• Exx take advantage of ('exploit'), take part
  in ('participate in'), take charge of
• Comments N can be modified N can be passive
  subjectConsiderable advantage was taken of this
  opportunity.Pseudo-passiveThey were cruelly
  taken advantage of.
• N does not take a determiner.

V
X
N
prep
Y
take
part
X
in
Y
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Other Parts of Speech

• Adjectives can have prepositional and clausal
  complements
• fond of cats interested in math similar to mud
• Nouns can have prepositional and causal
  complements
• top of the tower friend to the poor journey
  into the jungle copy of the book

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VP Idioms
50

• Obvious ones
• pull someone's leg, blow one's nose
• kick the bucket
• Less obvious ones
• answer the door (Would you answer the door?)
• mention someone's name (Did anybody mention my
  name at the party?)

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Support Constructions
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Support Verbs with Subject N

• Verb N is the lexical unit, N is semantic head,
  V is support verb
• Exx The wind is blowing, the fire is burning,
  the rain is falling, a riot occurred an accident
  happened
• Comment The frame is evoked by the noun. The
  support verb is selected by the noun.
• Compare "the fire is burning" with "the house is
  burning".

V
N
blow
wind
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• Note linearization Since these are
  intransitive, the N is (or heads) the subject NP
  and the verb is the predicate.

V
V
N
blow
wind
blows
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Support Verbs with Object N
V

• Verb N is the lexical unit, N is semantic head,
  V is support verb. N has its own valence.
• Exx We had an argument with the kids. ('we
  argued with the kids')I made the decision to
  leave. ('I decided to leave')
• Comment The frame is evoked by the noun. The SV
  is selected by the noun, which also brings in its
  own complement structure
• .
• Comment The N doesn't have to be deverbal wage
  war, commit a crime

X
N
have
argument
X
with
Y
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Ditransitive Support Verbs
V

• Verb N is the lexical unit, N is semantic head,
  V is support verb. X and Y are each participants
  in N's frame.
• Exx She gave me a kiss. ('she kissed me')I
  paid him a bribe. ('I bribed him')They gave me
  good advice.('they advised me well')

X
Y
N
give
kiss
X
X
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SVs can resolve polysemy.

• Polysemous event nouns can take different support
  verbs
• ('quarrel') have an argument
• ('reason') make an argument
• ('rest') take a break
• ('flight') make a break

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A common test of SVs

• One frequent proposed characteristic of support
  verbs is that their nominal object cant really
  be interrogated - meaning that the verb in
  question isnt functioning as a self-standing
  verb. The following are not natural
  conversations
• What did you heave? - A sigh.
• What have you made? - A decision to go home.
• What did you have? - A fight with my brother.
• What did you wreak? - Vengeance on my enemies.
• What did you lodge? - A complaint.

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Interchangeable with Verbs

• She heaved a sigh. (She sighed.)
• We made the decision to give up. (We decided to
  give up.)
• I took a bath. (I bathed.)
• He suffered a relapse. (He relapsed.)
• Lets say a prayer. (Lets pray.)

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Profiling Different Participants

• Agent of event
• perform an operation
• inflict injury
• exact/wreak vengeance
• launch an attack
• give instructions
• submit an application
• ask a question

• Undergoer of event
• undergo an operation
• sustain injury
• have a setback
• suffer a defeat
• undergo an operation
• receive a rebuke
• get advice

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Beyond "light verbs"

• Simple cases the verb has essential no meaning
  except to reveal that its subject is necessarily
  a participant in the event named by the noun.
• a. active role
• b. passive role
• More nuanced cases the verb contributes
  information about register, attitude, aktionsart,
  or the like.
• More extended cases the verb identifies its
  subject as a participant in the larger scenario
  associated with the event named by the verb.

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Examples

• Simple, active
• he made a complaint
• Nuanced
• he registered a complaint

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Examples

• Simple, active
• she gave an exam
• Simple, passive
• he took/sat the exam

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Examples

• Simple, active
• she gave an exam
• Simple, passive
• he took/sat the exam
• Extended
• he passed/failed the exam

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Examples

• Simple, active
• she made a promise

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Examples

• Simple, active
• she made a promise
• Extended
• she kept/broke her promise

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For the full story, and then some, see ...

• Mel'cuk, Igor' (1995), Phrasemes in language and
  phraseology in linguistics. In M. Everaert et
  al., Idioms Structural and Psychological
  Perspectives. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Mel'cuk, Igor' (1996), Lexical functions a tool
  for the description of lexical relations in a
  lexicon. In Leo Wanner, ed., Lexical Functions in
  Lexicography and Natural Language Processing.
  John Benjamins.
• Mel'cuk, Igor' (1998), Collocations and lexical
  functions. In Cowie 1998
• Mel'cuk, Igor' (1995), The future of the lexicon
  in linguistic description and the explanatory
  combinatorial dictionary. Linguistics in the
  Morning Calm 3. 181-270. Hanshin Seoul

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Support Verbs with Adjective
V

• Verb A is the lexical unit, A is semantic head,
  V is support verb, A may have its own complements
  (e.g., rid of).
• Exx be any predicate adjective go crazy,
  turn red, get naked
• CommentThe unit rid of seems to occur only with
  a SV.

X
A
get
naked
X
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Support Prepositions

• Prep N is the lexical unit, N is semantic
  head, V is support verb. N has its own valence.
• Exx at risk, in danger, on fire, under
  scrutiny, under arrest
• Some are modifiableat considerable risk, in
  grave danger, under careful scrutiny
• Comment The PN structure may function
  adjectivally or adverbially the N can have its
  own complements.(he participated in the race) at
  considerable risk to his health, (the building
  is) in danger of collapse

P
N
at
risk
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More Complex Cases
V

• Verb P N is the lexical unit, N is semantic
  head, V is support verb, N is generally not
  expandable.
• Exx take into account, take under
  consideration, have in (one's) possession

X
P
Y
N
take
X
under
Y
consideration
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Support Verbs with PP
V

• Verb P N is the lexical unit, N is semantic
  head, V is support verb. With possession there
  are two alignments of the arguments
• Possessor - PossessedI came into possession of
  these documents.
• Possessed - PossessorThese documents came into
  my possession.

X
prep
N
come
X
into
possession
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Transparent Nouns
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N of N
N
N

• N of is the lexical unit, The second N is
  semantic head for purposes of external selection.
• Comment sometimes the N of is "transparent" to
  the pieces of an MWE and sometimes the N of
  N is itself an MWE, especially in the case of
  aggregates and unitizers
• a case of the flu
• a round of golf
• a herd of cattle
• a flock of geese
• a school of fish
• a pinch of salt
• a pod of whales

of
of
N
N
type
bout
of
of
fish
flu
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Types of transparent nouns

• Aggregates
• bunch, group, collection, herd, school, flock
• Quantities
• flood, number, scores, storm
• Types
• breed, class, ilk, kind, type, sort
• Portions and Parts
• half, segment, top, bottom, part
• Unitizers
• glass, bottle, box, serving
• Evaluations
• gem, idiot, prince

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"Transparent" to what?

• Relation between locative preposition and object
• on the shelf on this part of the shelf
• in the room in this part of the room
• Relation between verb and typical collocating
  object
• play golf play a round of golf
• eat fish eat this type of fish
• Relation between possessor and kin-term
• my wife my gem of a wife
• her husband her jerk of a husband

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Compounds
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N N Compounds
N
N

• N N is the lexical unit listed compounds have
  the dependent in red the syntactic head is the
  frame evoker, the dependent is either a frame
  element or a "quale". The order is Modifier
  Head.

N
N
risk
knife
health
fish
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NN Compounds

• Some are just listed, their internal structure of
  etymological relevance only. (What's the head of
  light year? Often misused "that was light years
  ago".)
• light year, puppy love
• Some are listed, with N2 as the head, N1 as
  satisfier of some requirement of N2 name
  pre-existing category.
• bread knife, wine bottle, cork screw
• Some are interpretable with reference to
  completion needs of N2.
• fire risk, health risk, travel risks

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A-N Compounds
N
N

• N A is the lexical unit listed compounds have
  the dependent in red the syntactic head is the
  frame evoker, the dependent is either a frame
  element or a "quale".
• Ready-made AP compoundshot news, friendly
  fire, blind alley, dead end

A
A
police
news
federal
hot
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"Pertinative" adjectives

• Pertinatives are adjectives whose senses are
  defined in (some) dictionaries with the phrase
  "of or pertaining to". Traditional term
  relational adjectives. WordNet term pertainyms.
• They are not used predicatively in the same
  meaning.
• They aren't scalar, e.g., they don't get modified
  with very.

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Pertinatives vs. Descriptives

• judicial appointment
• economic policy
• educational practice
• criminal law
• linguistic society
• Canadian government
• national interest
• these are MWEs

• judicious appointment
• economical housewife
• educational experience
• criminal behavior
• ugly cat
• amazing disclosure
• bored child
• these aren't

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Continuity Hypothesis

• I assume the continuity of the lexicon and the
  constructicon.
• Reference Paul Kay Charles J. Fillmore (1999),
  "Grammatical constructions and linguistic
  generalizations the What's X Doing Y?
  construction", Language 75 1-33.
• Claim many lexically-headed constructions can be
  analyzed as dependency subtrees.

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be is finite (not quite true) Y is secondary
predicate, i.e. AP with absolute participial l
ocative phrase
be
X
doing
what
Y
Meaning X is Y, and that is anomalous.
Different linearizations and interruptions What
are you doing here? (be before X) I wonder what
she's doing wearing her mother's dress. (X before
be) What the hell are you still doing standing
out there in the rain? (various
interruptions) What are you doing without any
shoes on?
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(No Transcript)
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Personal names, long and short Gray
Davis Davis Jeremiah Hallisey Hallisey Places
Los Angeles San Francisco Organizations,
Institutions First District Court of Appeal L.
A. Superior Court California Transportation
Commission
85
NounNoun Compounds recall clock Davis
loyalists casting call commission
appointments Adjective Noun Compounds legal
affairs judicial appointment medical
leave judicial vacancy Complex cases legal
affairs secretary legal appointments secretary
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Support Verbs make ... appointments submit to
... review Transparent Nouns a stack of
appointments a host of 11th hour
appointments Verb-headed phrases put one's name
in for (an appointment) file for (an
opening) get the thumbs down from get one's
name cleared sign off on get caught flat-footed
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Miscellaneous as the clock ticks down over the
past four and a half years it is interesting to
note and speaking of ... a respectable 600
thousand dollars on the way out the door on the
chance there may be ... much less in
fairness
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Bottom Line

• Lexical units can be represented as dependency
  subgraphs, specifying a semantic head, a
  syntactic head, required/preferred dependents.
• Constraints on dependents can be specified
  lexically, sortally, morphosyntactically, and in
  terms of frame roles.
• Dependents can be marked as "closed" (not open to
  modification) and/or "local" (not subject to
  extraction) and/or "omissible".
• The lexical head of the construction bears
  information about contextual constraints
  finiteness, inflection, polarity, etc.