Valency Lexicon of Czech Verbs: Alternation-Based Model

The main objective of this paper is to introduce an alternation-based model of valency lexicon of Czech verbs VALLEX. Alternations describe regular changes in valency structure of verbs – they are seen as transformations taking one lexical unit and return a modified lexical unit as a result. We characterize and exemplify ‘syntactically-based’ and ‘semantically-based’ alternations and their effects on verb argument structure. The alternation-based model allows to distinguish a minimal form of lexicon, which provides compact characterization of valency structure of Czech verbs, and an expanded form of lexicon useful for some applications.