Arguments and adjuncts
The distinction between arguments and adjuncts is fundamental to most theories of syntax and semantics, and it is also generally presupposed in philosophy of language, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, and many descriptive grammars. The distinction is intuitive and I believe it is important. However, it is sometimes difficult to classify a given word or phrase as an argument or an adjunct. We have been collecting and examining proposed argumenthood tests in order to better understand what it is they test for. We are also investigating the psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics of arguments and adjuncts.
This work is highly collaborative. My collaborators include Roxana-Maria Barbu, Katie Van Luven, Rob Truswell, Ash Asudeh, Gianluca Giorgolo, Lisa Sullivan, Liz Christie, Paul Melchin, Daniel Di Giovanni, and others.
2024. The obligatoriness of arguments. With Katie Van Luven. Language and Linguistics Compass, e12511.
2021. Arguments and adjuncts across levels. In: Miriam Butt, Jamie Findlay, and Ida Toivonen (eds.), Proceedings of the LFG21 Conference, 306–331. Stanford: CSLI Publications.
2018. Wh-word conjunction as a test for argumenthood and obligatoriness. With Paul Melchin. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America 3.
2016. Arguments and adjuncts at the syntax-semantics interface. With Roxana-Maria Barbu. Proceedings
of Florida Yearly Linguistic Meeting 3 (FLYM 3)
2016. Event participants and linguistic arguments. With Roxana-Maria Barbu. Proceedings of CogSci 2016.
2015. East Cree Ghost participants. With Marie-Odile Junker. Proceedings of the LFG15 Conference.
2014. Meaning and valency. With Ash Asudeh and Gianluca Giorgolo. Proceedings of the LFG14 Conference, 68–88.
2011. The argumenthood status of directional PPs. With Katie Van Luven. Poster presented at the
LSA Annual Meeting.
2013. English benefactive NPs. Proceedings of the LFG13 Conference, 503–523.
2011. Derived arguments. With Stephanie Needham. Proceedings of the LFG11 Conference, 401–421.
link
1995. A study of Finnish infinitives. BA honor’s thesis, Brandeis University. pdf
The following students have also done very interesting work on the argument-adjunct distinction:
Roxana-Maria Barbu. 2020. On the Psycholinguistics of Argumenthood. PhD Thesis, Cognitive Science, Carleton University.
Daniel Di Giovanni. 2015. Neural and predictive effects of verb argument structure. Master’s Thesis, Cognitive Science, Carleton University.
Elizabeth Christie. 2015. The English Resultative. Ph.D. Thesis, Cognitive Science, Carleton University.
Katie Van Luven. 2015. The Argument Status of directional PPs . BA Thesis, Linguistics (SLALS), Carleton University.