Preliminary Recommendations

Slots

Slots provide information about subcategorised elements. Slots are defined by:

• An index, giving their canonical order in the frame. A canonical order can be given over slots based, for instance, on a canonical order given over the functions. This criterion for ordering is not formally constrained by the frame, but each slot necessarily has an index that gives its range in the frame. This canonical order is not necessarily the same as the linear order, which is constrained by other descriptive elements.
• A Boolean attribute optionality that specifies if a slot has to be realised necessarily or not (required information).
• The list of possible realisations described syntactically (required information) and semantically (optional information).

Slot realisations

Slot realisations are characterised syntactically and semantically by:

• Category label (required information);
• Morphosyntactic information when necessary (optional information) ;
• Function (required information);
• Semantic class restrictions (optional information);
• Thematic role (optional information).

A slot realisation carries also some information concerning the relation of the realisation with the other slots of the frame or to the lexical unit itself:

• controlled_by to point to the slot(s) that control(s) the realisation (required information when relevant);
• obviates to point to the slot(s) that cannot be coreferent with the realisation (optional information);
• in_order to specify if the usual linear order of the realisation is before or after the verb that subcategorises it.

Alternative realisations

Alternative slot realisations are represented as a disjunction of slot realisations associated with one slot. This makes it possible to represent with a single frame uses of the same verb which differ with respect to the realisation of a single complement. The next two paragraphs illustrate this for objective and predicative complements.

Objective complements and their different realisations: NP, that-clause, infinitival

He expected some profits (NP)

He expected to make some profits (Infinitival)

He expected that they will make some profits (That-clause)

Predicative complements and their different realisations: AP, PP, NP, VP

He seemed happy (AP)

He seemed the happiest person in the world (NP)

He seemed in good shape (PP)

He seemed to be happy (VP)

Optionality

Some verbs do not allow any of their complements to be omitted, whereas others do, e.g.

Marie arrive à partir

Marie succeeds to leave `Marie managed to leave'

Marie arrive (à Paris)

Marie arrive in Paris `Marie is arriving (in Paris)'

In those cases where one or more complements can be omitted, the possibility of indicating optionality at the slot level allows us to represent, with one frame, uses of the same verb varying minimally in syntactic valency. Optionality is a property of a slot in a frame: there is no restriction on its meaning, and, in particular, if some optionality could be constrained by some realisation of some other slot of the frame, then this is a criterion for splitting into two (or more) different frames.

Categorial and morphosyntactic information

The syntagmatic label information is the main information that characterises the syntactic property of a slot realisation. A list of labels for constituents is offered (as part of the primitive set the description is based on), and more refined information on distribution can be expressed by adding constraints expressed through valued features.

Grammatical relations or functions

Function is one of the mandatory syntactic characteristics of slot realisation. Function expresses the syntactic relation linking the realisation to the verb that subcategorises for it. Function is characterised by

• name (e.g. subject, object, etc.): possible names are not given as primitives.
• subject: Boolean
• predicative: Boolean

Semantic class

Semantic class is one of the non mandatory semantic characteristics of slot realisation. The semantic class expresses a restriction on the semantic interpretation of the slot realisation as belonging to a certain semantic class and semantically constrains the set of possible realisations. Semantic class is characterised by

• name (e.g. volitive animate, human): possible names are not given as primitives.
• is_a_class: hierarchical link to another semantic class; simple or multiple hierarchies can be described through this link.

Thematic role

Thematic role is one of the non mandatory semantic characteristics of slot realisation. The thematic role expresses the role of the slot realisation in the set of semantic participants of the situation or event associated with the frame. Thematic role is characterised by

• name: this can be any string or an integer.
• role_features: the set of elementary characteristics of the thematic role, e.g. cause, change, etc..