Lexical and phrasal approaches to argument structure: Two sides of the same coin
Hans Christian Boas · Theoretical Linguistics · 2014
Muller and Wechsler (MW Tomasello, 2003; Goldberg and Jackendoff, 2004; Jackendoff, 2011) that grammars should contain a phrasal component for certain constructions, such as the N-P-N construction” (MW (2) According to MW1 and (3) It also allows for some arguments to be expressed locally while saving others for expression elsewhere (partial fronting) and for the coordination of two or more verbs with matching argument structures (M&W, p. 2). The authors discuss a range of data from acquisition, psycholinguistics, and statistical distribution, which they claim “either fails to distinguish the two approaches, or supports the lexical approach” (M&W, p. 1). These points lead the authors to favor the lexical approach over the phrasal approach. M&W’s paper raises a number of important empirical, methodological, and theoretical issues surrounding the employment of the concept of argument