LingLunch : Gemma Boleda

Gemma Boleda (Pompeu Fabra)
Distributional Semantics and Linguistic Theory

Abstract: Distributional semantics provides multi-dimensional, graded, empirically induced word representations that successfully capture many aspects of meaning in natural languages, as shown in a large body of work in computational linguistics; yet, its impact in theoretical linguistics has so far been limited. In this talk, I will present methods and results in distributional semantics that are of relevance for theoretical linguistics, in three areas: semantic change, polysemy and composition, and the grammar-semantics interface (specifically, the interface of semantics with syntax, on the one hand, and with derivational morphology, on the other).