Table of Contents Complex Predicates in Telugu : A Computational Perspective

Complex predicates raise the question of how to encode them in computational lexicons. Theircomputational implementation in South Asian languages is in its infancy. This paper examinesin detail the variety of complex predicates in Telugu revealing the syntactic process of theircomposition and the constraints on their formation. The framework used is First Phase Syntax(Ramchand 2008). In this lexical semantic approach that ties together the constraints on themeaning and the argument structure of complex predicates, each verb breaks down into 3sub-event heads which determine the nature of the verb. Complex predicates are formed by oneverb subsuming the sub-event heads of another verb, and this is constrained in principled ways.The data analysed and the constraints developed in the paper are of use to linguists workingon computational solutions for Telugu and other languages, for design and development ofpredicate structure functions in linguistic processors.