What Does It Mean To Be a Shelf? Semantic Bleaching and WordNet

In English, denominal verbs incorporate in varying degrees the meaning of the root noun as part of the verb’s meaning. For example, one can box a present in a gift box but not in a paper bag, shelve a book on the mantelpiece but not on a spike. Other verbs such as land and warehouse exhibit bleaching to a much greater degree; for example, one can land a hydroplane on water, or warehouse parts in a barn, silo or any structure. In this paper, we describe the advantages and shortcomings in modeling semantic bleaching using WordNet’s hypernym/hyponym hierarchy, suggesting, along the way, directions for further refinement of the isa-relation.