Julia Horvath and Tal Siloni
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262034135
- eISBN:
- 9780262333177
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262034135.003.0003
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
The chapter addresses the division of labor between the syntax and the lexicon, specifically, the controversy between two major alternative approaches to the derivation of the thematic (vP) phase: ...
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The chapter addresses the division of labor between the syntax and the lexicon, specifically, the controversy between two major alternative approaches to the derivation of the thematic (vP) phase: (a) the syntacticocentric architecture, under which argument structure is attributed to the syntactic structure-building component via syntactic composition of events, the lexicon being merely lists of atomic building blocks; (b) the active-lexicon architecture, under which argument structure information is specified in lexical entries and the lexicon includes (certain) valence changing operations. After assessment of the underlying factors that had motivated the recent shift towards the syntacticocentric architecture, the chapter argues that the transfer of argument structure information to the syntax is unwarranted. The authors propose a version of bare phrase structure, and definitions that derive argument mapping under an active lexicon that incorporates Reinhart’s Theta System; they show these to provide an adequate resolution of the issues that had inspired the syntacticocentric approach. The chapter evaluates and challenges the validity of the evidence from adverb interpretations commonly taken to support syntactic decomposition. It proposes and substantiates litmus tests for the operational role of the lexicon, determining whether a valence changing operation must apply before syntactic merger has taken place.Less
The chapter addresses the division of labor between the syntax and the lexicon, specifically, the controversy between two major alternative approaches to the derivation of the thematic (vP) phase: (a) the syntacticocentric architecture, under which argument structure is attributed to the syntactic structure-building component via syntactic composition of events, the lexicon being merely lists of atomic building blocks; (b) the active-lexicon architecture, under which argument structure information is specified in lexical entries and the lexicon includes (certain) valence changing operations. After assessment of the underlying factors that had motivated the recent shift towards the syntacticocentric architecture, the chapter argues that the transfer of argument structure information to the syntax is unwarranted. The authors propose a version of bare phrase structure, and definitions that derive argument mapping under an active lexicon that incorporates Reinhart’s Theta System; they show these to provide an adequate resolution of the issues that had inspired the syntacticocentric approach. The chapter evaluates and challenges the validity of the evidence from adverb interpretations commonly taken to support syntactic decomposition. It proposes and substantiates litmus tests for the operational role of the lexicon, determining whether a valence changing operation must apply before syntactic merger has taken place.
