Distributional Semantics and Linguistic Theory

• Event: Seminar
• Lecturer: Gemma Boleda
• Date: 29 April 2020
• Duration: 2 hours
• Venue: Gothenburg

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). Talk based on the following paper: Boleda, G. 2020. Distributional Semantics and Linguistic Theory. Annual Review of Linguistics, Vol. 6: 213-23. [Pre-print version]