Explaining Prefix Contributions in Russian Using Frame Semantics and RSA.

Variability in the interpretation of Russian verbal prefixes is traditionally regarded as an issue of lexical semantics. Grammars and dictionaries list different usages that are possible for each prefix without explaining when and why particular usages are realised. For a limited amount of prefixed verbs further information can be found in the dictionaries, but often even this is not enough for a precise interpretation. In Zinova (2017) I proposed a Frame semantic analysis that allows to compositionally construct the meaning of a complex verb. In this paper I make a further step towards a computational account of the pragmatic component of the system that would allow to predict the final interpretation of a given verb. I claim that the competition between various verbs derived from the same stem is an important part of the prefixation system that ensures its flexibility and leads to what on the surface looks like lexical ambiguity. The final interpretation of a verb depends on the availability of alternative expressions.