Qualia structure is a system of relations that characterizes the semantics of nominals, very much like the argument structure of a verb [Pustejovsky, J., 1991, The generative lexicon, “Comput. Linguistics” 19, pp. 409-441]. In effect, the qualia structure of a noun determines its meaning in much the same way as the typing of arguments to a verb determines its meaning. [...] Briefly, the qualia structure of a word specifies four aspects of its meaning: the relation between an object and its constituent parts; that which distinguishes it within a larger domain; its purpose and function; factors involved in its origin or "bringing it about". These aspects of word's meaning are called its "Constitutive role", "Formal role", "Telic role", and "Agentive role" respectively.
- Pustejovsky & Boguraev (2004), Pag. 343