Sense and Meaning Facets in Verbal Semantics: A MARVS Perspective

This paper explores the theory of lexical knowledge set forth in the Module-Attribute Representation of Verbal Semantics (Biq 2000) and extends its scope to include issues concerning verbal polysemy. Previous versions of the theory postulated that different event structures required sense distinctions. In examining corpora data for the verbs 'put' and 'set' we argue that an additional criterion for 'sense' needs to be put in place, namely the standard that if two meanings can co-exist in the same sentence, then their representation is at the meaning facet, and not the sense level (following Ahrens et al. 1998). In sum, this paper adds to the cross-linguistic evidence supporting MARVS as well as constrains its definition of ambiguity.