Adverbs in Semantic Lexica for NLP – The extension of the Danish SIMPLE lexicon with Time Adverbs

Sanni Nimb (Center for Sprogteknologi, Njalsgade 80, DK-2300, Denmark)

WO6: Semantic Lexicons

In this paper we will discuss the treatment of adverbs in semantic lexica for NLP. On the basis of a semantic classification of Danish lexical time adverbs as well as a test carried out wrt. their ability to combine with different tenses and types of Aktionsart, an ontology on time adverbs is established. We will discuss which semantic characteristics exposed by the test that should be included in a computational lexicon, and propose how the ideas can be incorporated in the SIMPLE lexicon model, partly by reusing already implemented features from the model, partly by an extension of the set of features. Furthermore we will show how some adverbs will inherit information from several nodes in a SIMPLE ontology for adverbs, and how semantic relations, e.g. synonymi and antonomy, is relevant also in the case of adverbs. Finally we will give som examples on lexical entries of adverbs. The result can easily be applied on other adverbials with a time sense, and will therefore in fact also cover a large group of lexicalised multiword entities.

Semantic lexicons

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