Linking

Linking - how semantic arguments map to the syntax - is one of the challenges invloved with theories of the syntax-semantics interface. The text explores the hypothesis that the positions of syntactic arguments are strictly determined by lexical argument geometry.

Linking how semantic arguments map to the syntax is one of the challenges for theories of the syntax-semantics interface. In this new approach, Janet Randall explores the hypothesis that the positions of syntactic arguments are strictly determined by lexical argument geometry. Yielding novel if sometimes surprising conclusions, her Isomorphic Linking Hypothesis establishes the linking patterns of a wide range of verbs and, with those results, shows how to reason "backwards" from how a given verb's arguments link to what its lexical representation must be. Along the way, the investigation takes on thorny lexical issues reformulating the Theta Criterion, revisiting the multiple lexical-entry debate, eliminating "indirect" arguments and redefining unaccusativity. It offers new insights into how arguments are represented, assembles a host of argument/adjunct diagnostics, and re-examines the relation between arguments and predicates. The result of this incisive study is a simple and consistent account of linking, integrated with a radical rethinking of the nature of arguments and argument structure.

Novel theory of argument linking, a redefinition of "argument" and a simplified view of argument structure Revised and highly constrained Theta Criterion A range of tests for arguments vs. adjuncts converging on new lexical structures for many verb classes Principle for building complex lexical entries from simple ones

Klappentext

Linking how semantic arguments map to the syntax is one of the challenges for theories of the syntax-semantics interface. In this new approach, Janet Randall explores the hypothesis that the positions of syntactic arguments are strictly determined by lexical argument geometry. Yielding novel if sometimes surprising conclusions, her Isomorphic Linking Hypothesis establishes the linking patterns of a wide range of verbs and, with those results, shows how to reason "backwards" from how a given verb's arguments link to what its lexical representation must be. Along the way, the investigation takes on thorny lexical issues reformulating the Theta Criterion, revisiting the multiple lexical-entry debate, eliminating "indirect" arguments and redefining unaccusativity. It offers new insights into how arguments are represented, assembles a host of argument/adjunct diagnostics, and re-examines the relation between arguments and predicates. The result of this incisive study is a simple and consistent account of linking, integrated with a radical rethinking of the nature of arguments and argument structure.

Inhalt
A Geometric Theory of Linking.- Conceptual Structure.- Eliminating the Direct/Indirect Internal Argument Distinction.- Explaining Linking Regularities.- Syntactically Unexpressed Arguments, Incorporation, and Adjuncts.- The Linking of Resultative Verbs: Clausal Fusion.- The Prohibition Against Double Fusion.- More Linking Results Across the Lexicon.- Causative Verbs with PLACE Arguments.- Unaccusatives: A Cluster of Verb Classes.- Complex Causative Verbs.- Other Verb Classes, Other Issues, and Conclusions.