Using WordNet to Posit Hierarchical Structure in Levin's Verb Classes

In this paper we report on experiments using WordNet synset tags to evaluate the semantic properties of the verb classes cataloged by Levin 1993. This paper represents ongoing research begun at the University of Pennsylvania Rosenzweig et al. 1997, Palmer et al. 1997 and the University of Maryland Dorr and Jones 1996b, 1996d, 1996e. Using WordNet sense tags to constrain the intersection of Levin classes, we avoid spurious class intersections introduced by homonymy and polysemy run a bath, run a mile. By adding class intersections based on a single shared sense-tagged word, we minimize the impact of the non-exhaustiveness of Levins database Dorr and Olsen 1996, Dorr to appear. By examining the syntactic properties of the intersective classes, we provide a clearer picture of the relationship between WordNetEuroWordNet and the LCS interlingua for machine translation and other XLP applications.