Interlingual Representation of Complex Predicates in a Multilingual Approach: The Problem of Lexical Selection

In this paper we study the Syntagmatic, Paradigmatic and Transfer relations Complex Predicates (CPs) enter, within a Machine Translation (MT) approach. On the one hand, we describe the cross-linguistic validation of lexical semantic representations applied to the natural language realizations of the Italian predicative forms METTERE, PRENDERE and DARE, in their combination with Nouns, and to their equivalent realizations in English and Spanish. On the other, we suggest the use of such representations to stand for lexicalized verbal forms as well, so that paraphrasis phenomena are handled. Finally, we focus on the problem of lexical selection. We apply Mel’cuk Lexical Functions to solve co-occurrence restrictions and we suggest the need to establish a relationship among semantic and lexical formulae. We claim both representations can be related, since Lexical Functions can be defined on a conceptual basis, and we suggest the need for a new LF Oper 1–2 . Our analysis has a multilingual application.