Abstract
This paper originates from the idea that no complete account of lexical semantics can be given without a link between language and perception. It provides evidence for this claim by analysing two Italian adjectives (alto and basso — high/tall and low/short), which belong to a particular subclass of adjectives, namely those whose core meaning can be described by referring to some conceptualisation of our perceptual experience. Marr’s notion of 3D model and Jackendoff’s theory of frames of reference are used in order to represent referential properties of objects. The results of a test on the possible uses of alto (high/tall) and its antonym basso (low/short) are presented and discussed. These results, together with an analysis of the shapes of the objects tested, led to: (a) a hypothesis about the spatial conceptualisation of the objects involved; (b) a hypothesis about the way in which the procedures representing the meaning of alto and basso operate on the lexical entry of the modified noun (basically, which spatial feature they pick up); (c) a clear definition of context-dependence, as far as these adjectives are concerned, and a way to deal with it. The general hypothesis is that the meaning of these adjectives triggers a procedure which, on the basis of some characteristics of the shape of the object and the selected frame of reference, picks up a feature, the relevant vertical oriented axis (RVOA), that is present in the representation of the shape of the object, and changes the (fuzzy) values associated with it. Moreover, it enables us to derive adjectival selectional restrictions from some more basic referential property of the object involved. A computational framework to model the general hypothesis is presented and lexical entries and semantic procedures are described.
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Goy, A. (2002). Grounding Meaning in Visual Knowledge. In: Coventry, K.R., Olivier, P. (eds) Spatial Language. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9928-3_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9928-3_7
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