Prolegomenon to a Theory of Argument Structure

A linguistic monograph on lexical argument structure.

About the author

Ken Hale and Samuel Jay Keyser

Summary

This work is the culmination of an eighteen-year collaboration between Ken Hale and Samuel Jay Keyser on the study of the syntax of lexical items. It examines the hypothesis that the behavior of lexical items may be explained in terms of a very small number of very simple principles. In particular, a lexical item is assumed to project a syntactic configuration defined over just two relations, complement and specifier, where these configurations are constrained to preclude iteration and to permit only binary branching. The work examines this hypothesis by methodically looking at a variety of constructions in English and other languages.

Product details

• Authors: Ken Hale, Ken Keyser Hale, Kenneth L. Hale, Samuel Jay Keyser
• Publisher: The MIT Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 11.10.2002
• EAN: 9780262582148
• ISBN: 978-0-262-58214-8
• No. of pages: 296
• Series: Linguistic Inquiry Monographs; Linguistic Inquiry Monographs
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Other languages / Other literatures