On the semantic interpretation of nominals

In this paper wc examine a subset of polyscmous elements, the logical structure of nominals, and argue that maw cases of polysemy have well-defined calculi, which interact with the grmnmar in predictable and determinate ways for disambiguation. These calculi constitute part of the lexicai organization of the grammar and contribute to the lexical semantics of a word. The lexieal system of the grammar is distinct from the conceptual representation associated with a lcxieal item, where polysemy is less constrained by grarmnar. We propose a structured' semantic representation , the Lexical Conceptual Paradigm (LCP) which groups nouns into paradigmatic classes exhibiting like behavior. Much of the work on polysemy has tended to confuse the nature of word meaning by labeling many different types of ambiguity as the same phenomenon. In the extreme case, every possible lexieai semantic distinction is a case of polysemy and must have its own conceptual representation. In such a theory, various features are introduced to distinguish one sense from another~ but the meanings m'e all part of the same homogeneous conceptual space. In this paper, we argue that there are various types of polysemy, some more accessible to grammatical phenomena than others. We use this as a principled distinguishing characteristic of polysemous types. We distinguish two systems that together comprise the meaning of lexieal items, the lexical system and the conceptual system. In particular , if there are certai n grammatical characteri,~tics that are affected by a polysenmus relation between concepts, then we will say that this relation is overtly part of the lexical 51B system. 1 The mQor point to be argued here is that poly-semy is not a. single phenomenon operating over all lexical items with equM force and frequency. Rather, Lhere are subsystems in the lexicon which exhibit a restricted range of polysemous behavior. Each subsystem is determined by a representation called a Lexieal Conceptual Paradigm (LCP), which groups elements into classes with similar behavior. We limit ourselves in this paper to cases of poly-semy involving nominals. We will proceed as follows. In Section Two we examine the different types of polysemous nominals. In particular, we look at a classification of relational nouns, paying particular attention to those exhibiting polysemous behavior. Then we examine the semantic interpretations possible for artifactual nominals such as book and record, and their associated polysemous behavior resulting from certain syntactic contexts. In Section Three we introduce a framework ibr …