Classes sémantiques et description des langues

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the importance of semantic classes in the description of language. We know that most predicates are polysemous, and that each sense correlates with a particular set of arguments. We can group these arguments into semantic classes ("classes d'objets" (object classes)), so that the meaning of a predicate can be recognized automatically in context. The same can be done for predicates: the establishment of classes (or sub-classes) of "actions", "states" and "events" allows the grouping of verbs, adjectives or nominal predicates which share the same defining properties. To illustrate this, we shall describe the semantic class of "behaviour towards others".