Abstract This behavioural profiling (BP) study examines the use of the near-synonyms rang (讓), shi (使) and ling (令), three ways to express cause-effect relationships in Chinese. Instead of using an out-of-the-box BP design, we present a modified approach to profiling that includes a range of frame semantic features that aim to capture variation of slot fillers of this construction. The study investigates the intricate semantic variation of rang, shi and ling through a comprehensive analysis of 38 contextual features (ID tags) that characterize the collocational, lexical semantic and frame semantic environment of the near-synonyms. Our dataset consists of around 100.000 data points based on the annotation of 1002 sentences of Mandarin Chinese of three varieties. The BPs of each near-synonym are compared using multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis. The results show that rang, shi and ling are each characterized by a combination of distinctive features and how different feature types contribute to setting the near-synonyms apart based on their usage patterns. Methodologically, this study illustrates how behavioural profiling can be modified to include frame semantic features in accordance with the method’s emphasis on producing empirically verifiable results and how these features can aid a comparative analysis of near-synonyms.

中文翻译：

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使用框架语义特征分析汉语使役结构的让（让）、使（使）和令（令）

摘要 这项行为分析 (BP) 研究考察了近义词 rang (让)、shi (使) 和 ling (令) 这三种中文表达因果关系的方式的使用。我们没有使用开箱即用的 BP 设计，而是提出了一种改进的分析方法，其中包括一系列帧语义特征，旨在捕捉这种结构的插槽填充物的变化。该研究通过对 38 个上下文特征（ID 标签）的综合分析来研究让、时和令的复杂语义变化，这些特征描述了近义词的搭配、词汇语义和框架语义环境。我们的数据集由大约 100.000 个数据点组成，这些数据点基于三个变体的 1002 句普通话的注释。使用多维缩放和层次聚类分析比较每个近义词的 BP。结果表明，rang、shi 和 ling 各自具有不同特征的组合，以及不同的特征类型如何根据它们的使用模式将近义词区分开来。在方法论上，本研究说明了如何根据该方法对产生经验可验证结果的强调以及这些特征如何帮助对近义词进行比较分析来修改行为分析以包括框架语义特征。