Seeing clearly: Frame Semantic, Psycholinguistic, and Cross ...

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 23
base form and the base \plus s" of the plural noun and the third singular present verb
are orthographically and phonologically identical, so that they are ambiguous as to part of
speech. In such cases, where both the lexical forms overlap and the senses are part of the
same semantic frame, di ering only by syntactic category, Ido want to call this a case of
polysemy, in accord with Cruse (1986) and Fillmore & Atkins (1992:100-101), and contrary
to most dictionaries, which always give separate main entries (or at least sub-entries) for
di erent parts of speech, regardless of how closely related they are semantically.
Pattern Levin
1993
Examples
N one instance
of Ving
bump, charge, hit, jar, step, walk
N is a social
dance, lecture, talk
event consistingprominently
of Ving
V install N(s)
light, roof, wire
in/on
V remove N 10.7 Pit dust (clean house), peel, shell, string
from
verbs (beans, celery), weed
V apply N to 9.9 Butter paint, stain, varnish, lacquer, caulk,
verbs spackle, grout, paper, dust, spray,
salt, butter, oil
V expose to N steam, smoke, air, sun
V using N tool hammer, iron, plane, saw
V fasten by 22.4 Tape cement, clip, glue, hook, nail, paste,
means of N verbs pin, screw, staple, strap, tape
V place in a 9.10 Pocket bag, bottle, box, can, case (mail in
container or verbs post o ce), crate, le, rack (balls in
storage
tion N
loca-
pool), shelve
V split to form
a con guration
like aN
branch, fork, fan (out)
Table 1.2: Zero-relations between English Verbs and Nouns
These kinds of regularities occur on all scales, such as that between the abstract
unit of currency and the physical cash, as in He pulled a dollar out of his pocket vs. It's not
worth a dollar. Table 1.2 lists a few everyday alternations, including references to Levin