On the computational representation of constructions: The place of locative constructions in a knowledge base

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to further explore the formal representation of meaning as regards Level 1 (L1) or non-kernel constructions in the computational environment of the multipurpose lexico-conceptual knowledge base FunGramKB (Periñán-Pascual & Arcas-Túnez, 2010, 2014) with special reference to L1–locative constructions in English. FunGramKB uses the parsing prototype ARTEMIS in order to automatically transduce fragments of natural language and generate their corresponding semantic representation under the format of a conceptual logical structure (CLS). Firstly, we aim to revise the criteria used in order to determine what factors can modify the argumental structure of kernel constructions (Fumero & Díaz, 2017). Any deviation from the kernel construct attributed to a verbal predicate, whose grammatical and semantic information is stored in the Lexicon module of the knowledge base, will result in a particular type of L1–construction that has to be stored in the Grammaticon module, and that will have a direct impact on the formal representation of L1–constructions in ARTEMIS. Thus, the first part of the paper addresses the notion of construction in FunGramKB and revises the catalogue of L1–constructions proposed by Fumero and Díaz (2017). The second part focuses on the computational representation of the family of L1–locative constructions in English and shows how their idiosyncrasies should be formalized in the CLS so that they can be satisfactorily implemented in FunGramKB.