A Comparison of Different Lexical Semantics Approaches for Transfer Verbs with a Particular Emphasis on Buy/Sell

In this paper, are discussed and compared different approaches to lexical semantics, reflecting presentations during the panel discussion at the Workshop on Predicative Forms in Natural Language. The panel was organized with the aim of evaluating different approaches to the study of word meaning, by comparing their advantages and disadvantages from both a theoretical and an applied perspective. The verb pair buy and sell was taken to support comparisons. The following areas are surveyed: WordNet and the organization of verbs of possession, the Lexical Conceptual Structure, The Generative Lexicon, an integrated view adopted e.g. in Mikrokosmos and a psycho-linguistics perspective.