Re: Troponym Structures?
> Do you consider a class of [verb + object-type] (generalized verb phrase) to
> be a subclass of the verb?
No, how can it be a subclass of verb? That is a category error.
'Verb' is a part of speech. A subclass of word, if you like.
If you have combinations of words, particularly words of
different classes, such as verb+object, you're into syntax.
verb+object is at best an underspecified clause, possibly
an underspecified verbphrase, depending on theoretical
commitments. So a particular collection of verb+object-type
may be a particular subtype of clause or vp. I am thinking
here of how I would see these units in an HPSG-style type lattice;
but this may not be the type of class-subclass relation
that you were intending to get at.
> Or are the semantics (meaning in the one particular
> sense) of a verb already implicitly determined by the class of things it can
> take as an object?
The semantics should be an interpretation of the clause,
possibly of a verbphrase. Given a particular semantic
intent, one can select the linguistic units over which
that semantic content will be distributed. If one has
an activity type of meaning, then one of the possible
ways of expressing this is across a clause, including
selections across verbs, participants and additional
bits and pieces as the grammar of a language supplies.
A verb therefore may well have a partial/underspecified
meaning contribution that already constrains possible
participants, I would not say that it is "determined
by the class of things it can take as an object" as
this seems to assume a priority of a particular kind
of meaning that is unwarranted.
John.