Collocational information in the FrameNet database

The FrameNet lexical database yields information about collocations and multiword expressions in various ways. In some cases phrasal units have been entered from the start as lexical entries (write down). In other cases headword+preposition pairs can be recognized as special collocations where the preposition in question is a necessary and lexically specified marker of an argument of the headword tfond of, hostile to). Nominal compounds are annotated with respect to noun or (pertinative) adjective modifiers, some of which are analyzable but also entrenched (wheel chair, fiscal year). Nouns that name aggregates, portions, types, etc., sometimes hold lexically specified relations to their dependents (flock of geese). And event nouns frequently select the support verbs which permit them to enter into predications (file an objection, enter a plea). A subproject aims at extracting, as structured clusters of lexical items, the minimal semantically central kernel dependency graphs from the set of annotations. Such research will yield not only commonplace groupings (eat: dog, bone) but will also yield hitherto unnoticed collocations within such graphs (answer: you, door) where certain dependency links within them are idiomatic or otherwise lexically special, here answer > door. Collocational information can also be retrieved by various types of queries within our MySQL search tool.