Using complex lexical types to model the polysemy of collective nouns within the Generative Lexicon

Abstract

This paper proposes a formal treatment of collective nouns (e.g. police, orchestra, and forest) drawing on the rich lexical typing of the Generative Lexicon. Collectives can be alternatively interpreted as collections in the sense of Link (1983), or as individuals, depending on contextual factors. They are therefore polysemous. Their semantics includes a meronymic (part/whole) relation which may or may not be accessible, depending on which interpretation they receive. The polysemy of collectives will be modelled using dot objects nominal types (dot objects being the Cartesian product of simple lexical types within a hierarchical lexicon) and qualia roles, capturing the constraints observed on their meronymic structure and complex lexical typing.