We set out to empirically identify the range and frequency of basic verb alternation types in Japanese, through analysis of the Goi-Taikei Japanese pattern-based valency dictionary. This is achieved through comparison of the selectional preference annotation on corresponding case slots, based on the assumption that selectional preferences are preserved under alternation. Three separate extraction methods are considered, founded around: (1) simple match of selectional restrictions; (2) selectional restriction matching, with recourse to penalised backing-off; and (3) semantic density, again with recourse to backing-off. 1 Throughout this paper, we will tend to talk exclusively of selectional restrictions, where we mean both selectional restrictions and lexical fillers. Coincidence of selectional restrictions, therefore, refers to full coincidence of the range of lexical fillers as well as agreement in the selectional restriction content. Backing-off, on the other hand, applies only to selectional restrictions. 2 A verb sense is defined as the Japanese component of a single Japanese-English transfer pattern.
REF empirically identified the range and frequency of basic verb alternation, including activepassive alternation, in Japanese.
Verb Alternations and Japanese - How, What and Where?
in Proc. of the 14th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation (PACLIC
Computer Science