1 Introduction 1
2 The Nature of Lexical Knowledge 5
2.1 Semantic Classes and Categorial Alternation 8
2.2 Interlexical Relations 23
3 The Logical Problem of Polysemy 27
3.1 Varieties of Sense Extension 27
3.2 Contrastive Ambiguity 29
3.3 Complementary Polysemy 31
3.4 An Elementary Lexical Semantic Theory 33
4 Limitations of Sense Enumerative Lexicons 39
4.1 The Goals of Lexical Semantic Theory 40
4.2 The Creative Use of Words 42
4.3 Permeability of Word Senses 47
4.4 Difference in Syntactic Forms 50
4.5 Semantic Expressiveness 55
4.6 Generative Lexical Models 57
4.7 Strong vs. Weak Compositionality 59
5 The Semantic Type System 61
5.1 Levels of Representation 61
5.2 Argument Structure 62
5.3 Extended Event Structure 67
5.4 Qualia Structure 76
5.5 The Interaction of Semantic Levels 81
6 Qualia Structure 85
6.1 Modes of Explanation 85
6.2 The Qualia Structure of Nominals 90
7 Generative Mechanisms in Semantics 105
7.1 Coercion and Type Shifting 106
7.2 Co-composition 122
7.3 Selective Binding 127
7.4 Semantic Selection 131
8 The Semantics of Nominals 141
8.1 Basic Issues 141
8.2 Nominals with Unified Types 142
8.3 Nominals with Complex Types 149
8.4 Propositions and Event Descriptions 157
8.5 Varieties of Nominalization 165
8.6 Lexicalization and LCPs 177
9 The Lexical Semantics of Causation 183
9.1 How Language Encodes Causation 183
9.2 Causation and Unaccusativity 188
9.3 Aspectual Causatives and Coercion 198
9.4 Experiencer Predicates 208
9.5 Modal Causatives 215
9.6 Conclusion 218
10 Consequences of a Generative Lexicon 221
10.1 Co-composition and Verbal Semantics 221
10.2 Stage-Level Predication 225
10.3 Further Applications of Coercion 230
10.4 Linguistic versus Commonsense Knowledge 232
10.5 Lexical Inference and Rhetoric 236
10.6 Summary 238
Notes 241
Bibliography 269
Author Index 289
Subject Index 293