A Review of the Generative Lexicon Theory

A semantic structure description system and a semantic compositional mechanism are established in the generative lexicon theory to explain the creative and dynamic usage of word meaning in different contexts.This paper reviews the multifaceted research and points out the existing problems, e.g., the incomplete adequacy of explanation, reliance on sentence plane and ignorance of contextual background, etc.Three research directions are suggested in this paper: explaining language variation with multidimensional perspective of syntax, semantics and pragmatics; promoting natural language processing with other semantic knowledge resources; and deepening the research in Chinese and setting up the semantic knowledge base of nouns.