Argument structure

1. Introduction Argument structure concerns the processes and relations involved in the syntactic realization of the semantic dependents of a predicate. Crucial notions in many treatme...

Case

See entry 'Argument structure'.

Causative

The causative is discussed in the entry 'Argument structure'.

Compounding

A compound can be defined in very basic terms as a word that is made up of two or more words. Compounds thus show properties of both morphological formation (the whole constitutes a word) and sy...

Control

In modern linguistics, the term control refers to a construction (or family of constructions) in which there is coreference between an argument of a matrix predicate and an argument of...

Coordination

The term coordination refers to the juxtaposition of two or more words or phrases under a single phrasal node, often linked by a conjunction such as and or or. Unlike...

Ellipsis

The term 'ellipsis' in grammatical theory most generally refers to linguistic material being omitted, deleted, or simply left unpronounced. The omitted material is needed for the full interpreta...

Grammar

1. The term 'grammar' As discussed by Aarts (2006: 113), the term grammar can be used in a variety of ways. In a broad sense, grammar can refer to syntax and morpholo...

Lexical vs Functional Categories

1. Introduction The distinction between lexical and functional categories is a well-known one in Western linguistics. It is both long-standing (possibly dating back...

Objecthood

1. Introduction Like the closely related notion of 'subject', the notion of 'object' is an ancient one in the Western linguistic tradition, and in modern Western linguistics 'object',...

Passive

1. Introduction The term 'passive' refers to an argument structure alternation or operation common in languages with nominative-accusative morphosyntactic alignment, and to verb forms...

Periphrasis

1. Introduction The term 'periphrasis' broadly refers to constructions in which a syntactic sequence of two (or more, at least in principle) words can be considered to represent the in...

Relative clauses

1. Introduction Research on relative clauses in modern Western linguistics includes both more descriptive/typological angles such as distinguishing the different semantic and syntactic...

Semantic roles

There is nothing precisely equivalent to the notion of semantic roles, or 'thematic roles', in the Indian tradition. The closest categories are the kārakas, but these are more abstract...

Subjecthood

1 Introduction The notion 'subject' is an ancient one in the Western linguistic tradition, going back to at least Aristotle. In modern Western linguistics, the notion of 'subject' rema...

Suppletion

1. Introduction Although its original reference is to the diachronic process by which two previously unrelated words or word stems come to be associated, resulting in a new, mixed para...