Toward a Representation of Semantic Change in Linked Data

Abstract

In this article, we introduce a new framework, the Intensional–Ontological Model (IOM), for representing meaning, and especially for representing semantic change, in linguistic linked data resources. This framework, which makes use of previous work in the literature on lexical semantics and ontologies, is intended to help clarify what we mean when we model semantic change and to assist in elaborating different ontology patterns for doing so. In this work, we assume a simple architecture, one which is at the basis of the well-known OntoLex-Lemon vocabulary and which consists of one or more lexicons linked to an ontology. Our model, which is based on this architecture and informed by previous work on word senses and ontologies, is intended to provide a clear interpretation for the modelling of both onomasiological and semiasological changes, in both static and dynamic versions. This article describes how the IOM framework represents word meaning as the relationship between a word and an ontological concepts in the ’static’ case, demonstrating that the IOM is compatible with OntoLex-Lemon (while at the same time providing a greater level of detail as to the meaning of the ’sense’ and ’reference’ relationships). It then goes on to detail how the IOM can help us understand how to model semantic shifts in linked data lexical resources with a focus on conceptual change and the addition of temporal information to semantic shift data.