The Projection of Arguments: Lexical and Compositional Factors

It is becoming increasingly clear that the standard approach to argument linking in terms of ‘thematic roles’, which are determined by the lexical meaning of verbs, has some serious shortcomings. This volume sets out to explore alternatives to a rigid model of lexical projection. It brings together a set of papers from different backgrounds that converge on the general hypothesis that the many semantic factors which influence the projection of arguments should be attributed to compositional processes rather than to the fixed contents of lexical entries. Proposals for a reassessment of the lexicon-syntax interface are included, as well as topics addressing questions of argument hierarchies and adicity of predicates, and the syntax and semantics of argument alternations in a set of very diverse languages.