ISO 24613-6:2024

International
Standard
ISO 24613-6
First edition
Language resource management —
2024-04
Lexical markup framework (LMF) —
Part 6:
Syntax and semantics
Gestion des ressources linguistiques — Cadre de balisage
lexical (LMF) —
Partie 6: Syntaxe et sémantique
Reference number
© ISO 2024
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ii
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Description of the syntax and semantics module (SynSem) model . 2
4.1 General principles of the SynSem model .2
4.2 Class description .4
4.2.1 SyntacticBehaviour class .4
4.2.2 SubcategorizationFrame class .4
4.2.3 SyntacticArgument class.4
4.2.4 SubcategorizationFrameSet class .5
4.2.5 SynArgMap class.5
4.2.6 SenseRelation class .5
4.2.7 SemanticPredicate class .5
4.2.8 PredicativeRepresentation class.5
4.2.9 SemanticArgument class .6
4.2.10 ArgumentRelation class .6
4.2.11 SynSemArgMap class .6
4.2.12 SynSemCorrespondence class .6
4.2.13 PredicateRelation class .6
Annex A (informative) Syntax-semantics examples . 7
Bibliography .11

iii
Foreword
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iv
International Standard ISO 24613-6:2024(en)
Language resource management — Lexical markup
framework (LMF) —
Part 6:
Syntax and semantics
1 Scope
This document specifies the syntax and semantics (SynSem) module of the lexical markup framework (LMF),
a metamodel for representing data in monolingual and multilingual lexical databases used with computer
applications. The SynSem module allows for the description of specific syntactic and semantic properties of
lexemes, as well as the complex interactions between them. More specifically, the syntax part of the module
describes the properties of a lexeme when combined with other lexemes in a sentence. When recorded in a
lexicon, these properties make up the syntactic description of a lexical entry instance. The semantics part
of the module, on the other hand, describes the sense of a lexeme and its relationship with other senses
belonging to the same language. The SynSem interface describes the predicates and the mapping between
syntactic and semantic arguments.
This serialization covers the classes of ISO 24613-1 (Core model), ISO 24613-2 (Machine-readable dictionary
(MRD) model) and ISO 24613-4 (TEI serialization).
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes
requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references,
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 24613-1, Language resource management — Lexical markup framework (LMF) — Part 1: Core model
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO 24613-1 and the following apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at https:// www .electropedia .org/
3.1
syntactic behaviour
one of the possible alternations that a lexeme can show, at the syntactic level
EXAMPLE A verb can have different types of syntactic behaviours for subcategorization frame (3.2) alternations,
such as the active voice, the passive voice, reflexive, etc.
[9][12]
Note 1 to entry: A syntactic behaviour is described in terms of subcategorization frames.

3.2
subcategorization frame
valence
valency
set of restrictions on a lexeme indicating the properties of the syntactic arguments (3.4) that can or must
occur with this given lexeme
3.3
semantic predicate
formal semantic unit that represents a semantic relation between one or more semantic arguments (3.5) in
a predicate-argument structure
[SOURCE: ISO 24617-4:2014, 2.1.2, modified — term “predicate” replaced by “semantic predicate”.
“argument” replaced by “semantic argument” within definition. Note 1 to entry deleted.]
3.4
syntactic argument
one of the essential and functional constituents in a clause that identifies the participants in the process
referred to by a lexeme
EXAMPLE Alfred (syntactic argument) reads a book (syntactic argument) today (adjunct).
3.5
semantic argument
formal semantic unit that is an essential constituent of a predicate-argument structure and can have variable
instantiations depending on the utterance
[SOURCE: ISO 24617-4:2014, 2.1.1, modified — term “argument” replaced by “semantic argument”. Notes to
entry deleted.]
4 Description of the syntax and semantics module (SynSem) model
4.1 General principles of the SynSem model
The modelling of the syntactic and semantic properties of lexicons can differ considerably from lexicon to
lexicon, due to different linguistic theories.
[2]
The present modelling of syntax and semantics builds on the previous one, given in ISO 24613:2008 ,
which contained two sub-modules for syntax and semantics. In ISO 24613:2008, experts identified a
nucleus of elements that are sufficiently generic to constitute a common ground. The ISO 24613:2008
syntactic and semantics models were the basis for other modelling of the syntax/semantics interface, such
[13]
as the W3C Ontolex “Syntax and Semantics Module”. For these reasons, the overall structure of the
[11] [8]
previous model, which was used in various projects such as the PAROLE and SIMPLE projects, was
not changed in this document, but some simplifications/modifications were introduced. In particular, the
previous semantic module contained elements that were entirely dedicated to the modelling of WordNet-
like lexicons, introducing a Synset class. This is judged to be unnecessary in this document since the Sense
and SenseRelation classes can be used instead. Another difference with respect to ISO 24613:2008 is the
lack of a feat class, which was used to make up for specific elements which a lexicographer can potentially
want to introduce but which were not generic enough to be included in the model. In the present UML-
based standardization, only the core features of the syntax/semantics interface are described. However, the
lexicographer can extend the model to extend other features.
Figure 1 gives a class diagram for SynSem with the module specific classes in pink. Figure 2 shows the
subclasses of CrossREF (described in ISO 24613-1) which are referred to in the class diagram in Figure 1.

Figure 1 — SynSem module
Figure 2 — Subclasses of CrossREF
Regarding the modelling of syntax in Figure 1, a LexicalEntry may have one or more instances of
SyntacticBehaviour, associated with separate SubcategorizationFrame instances, each described with
SyntacticArgument. Regarding the modelling of semantics, it applies to senses. The Sense class is specified
in the core package. The Sense class is aggregated in the LexicalEntry class. A PredicativeRepresentation
serves to connect a Sense with one or more instances of SemanticPredicate, which are described in terms
of SemanticArgument instances. The linking between syntax and semantics is done by the SynSemArgMap
component, which links a SemanticArgument with a SyntacticArgument.
Clause A.1 illustrates the full model, using the French verb “aider” (“help”) with its syntactic and semantic
properties.
4.2 Class description
4.2.1 SyntacticBehaviour class
SyntacticBehaviour is a class representing one of the possible syntactic behaviours of a lexeme. It is a subclass
of CrossREF, linking a LexicalEntry instance with a Subca
...