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<Paper uid="W01-1302">
  <Title>Specification in terms of interactional properties as a way to optimize the representation of spatial expressions</Title>
  <Section position="8" start_page="5" end_page="5" type="concl">
    <SectionTitle>
6 Conclusion
</SectionTitle>
    <Paragraph position="0"> The English vertical above and over and the Russian frontal pieried and vpieriedi are found to possess similar object-independent perceptual properties, which pertain to motion, distance, and choice of the reference frame. All the four prepositions are also found to have similar functional properties their usage is sensitive to (1) interaction between the Figure and the Ground that is currently taking place; (2) the Figures preventing the Ground from being physically influenced (protection); (3) potential interaction between the objects (functional potential). Conceptualization of interaction in these cases hinges on experiential knowledge about functionality of specific objects. For example, a human is usually conceptualized as (potentially) acting upon an object, located near him/her. The fact that specific objects are perceptually different, but have the same functional status, explains object-specific restrictions necessary in a geometry-based semantic specification.</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="1"> The object-independent perceptual properties of referent scenes that determine the usage of the prepositions are found to be functionally relevant, i.e. by perceiving these properties the observer is able to form an idea about the functional aspect of the scene. That is why functional relations are conceptualized even in those cases when the spatially correlated objects do not have any inherent function (i.e. &amp;quot;natural kind objects&amp;quot; like clouds, fog, or rocks). These are such cases when, for example, small distance triggers off conceptualization of potential interaction between objects, or great distance impossibility of interaction.</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="2"> Thus, the object-specific and object-independent perceptual properties of each of the four prepositions are presupposed by its functional property. The established correlation between the perceptual and functional properties allows not to keep geometry and function distinct in the lexical entries, and thus to avoid the necessity to explicitly specify cases that are determined by geometry and cases that are determined by function. On this account, an optimal semantic representation will include only functional semantic properties and information about the particular projective axis on which the Figure is located.</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="3"> Based on these findings, a computationally plausible procedure of matching a preposition with a referent scene may be proposed. The procedure should include detection of the functional properties of the scene. They can be determined through (1) retrieval of interactional information about specific objects, e.g. their functionally relevant sides; (2) functionally relevant object-independent perceptual properties of the scene, e.g. distance between objects, direction of their motion, etc. After that the scene is described by that preposition that possesses the corresponding functional semantic property.</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="4"> The conducted study, however, does not allow one to think that meanings of the vertical and the frontal prepositions are entirely identical. The frontal prepositions vpieriedi and pieried, unlike the vertical prepositions above and over, cannot denote Goal and Source of the Figures motion: there are special prepositions to denote these entities. Nonetheless, such cases are not numerous and can be presented as exceptions in the lexical entries without making the semantic representation too bulky and unmanageable.</Paragraph>
  </Section>
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