arguments

the participants minimally involved in an action defined by the predicate. The complements and the subject, the latter also called an external argument.

determiner phrase (DP)

a phrase headed by a central determiner or the possessive ’s morpheme. The complement of a DP is an NP, the specifier the DP the possessive ending attaches to.

grammar

(a) a (finite) set of rules which tell us how to recognise the infinite number of expressions that constitute the language that we speak. (b) a linguistic hypothesis about these rules.

lexical entry

a collection of the idiosyncratic properties of lexical items.

predicate

the part of the clause excluding the subject giving information about the subject: Mary [is clever/likes chocolate/is waiting for Jamie/was in bed/is a university student].

semantics

the study of meaning. It covers both lexical meaning and the meaning of sentences with special emphasis on their truth conditions (under what circumstances a sentence is true/false).

specifier position

a position defined by X-bar Theory. The specifier is sister to X', daughter of XP. It is a phrasal position, the nature of the phrase depends on what it is the specifier of. E.g. the specifier of IP is the subject, the specifier of DP is the possessor in possessive structures.

subcategorisation frame

that part of the lexical entry that states the categorial status of the complement.

theme

one of the thematic roles where the argument is not affected by the action described by the verb e.g. in Peter saw John nothing directly happens to John as a result of being seen. In terms of the UTAH the theme theta-role is assigned to the specifier position of the VP.

there-construction: see existential there-construction.

theta role

the semantic role of the participants as required by the predicate. E.g. verbs define what kind of semantic relationship is to be established between the verb itself and the arguments of the verb, and arguments are selected accordingly. The verb kick calls for an agent subject, so its subject position cannot be occupied by e.g. my CD-player.

verb phrase (VP)

a phrase headed by a verb. It is in the VP together with the vp(s) that the basic argument structure of the clause is formed, thus, theta-role assignment takes place here. The specifier position of the VP is occupied by the constituent bearing the theme/patient theta role. In passive structures this constituent has to move from the specifier position of the verb to the specifier position of IP in order to get Case. A VP can have different types of complements such as a DP, CP, IP, PP.

word category

a set of expressions that share certain linguistic features, a grouping of words that cluster together, e.g. noun, verb. See also functional category, thematic category.

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Basic English Syntax with Exercises

3.1.4 Specifiers

So far we have been concerned with heads and their complements. In this section we turn to specifiers. As we said above the specifier position is a little more complex than the complement for reasons which we will turn to in section 2.

In general we will find that specifiers are occupied by certain arguments of a predicate or by elements with a certain specified property which relates to the head. This second class of specifiers can only be discussed after a good deal more of the grammar has been established, so we will put these to one side for the moment.

The argument specifiers tend to be subjects, though again this statement will need much qualification as we proceed. One class of verb for which this is most straightforward are those which have theme subjects:

(26)aa letter arrived
bthe ship sank
cGarry is in the garden

Simplifying somewhat, we might claim that these arguments sit in the specifier of the VP:

(27)

These arguments are nearly always DPs and so, unlike the complement they do not seem to be restricted differently by different heads in terms of their category. This is reflected in the lexical entries of the relevant heads in the fact that subcategorised elements are always complements and subjects are never subcategorised for. Of course, there are restrictions placed on these specifier arguments from the predicate, but of a more semantic nature. The verb assigns a Θ-role to these arguments and so the argument must be semantically compatible with the Θ-role it has to bear. For example:

(28)the complete works of Shakespeare arrived

The most natural interpretation for this sentence would be to interpret the subject the complete works of Shakespeare as a book or set of manuscripts, i.e. something concrete rather than the artistic pieces of work themselves. Only if one was speaking about arriving in a metaphorical sense could one claim that one of Shakespeare’s plays had ‘arrived’ after he had written it.

This is different from the situation facing complements where there are both semantic and categorial restrictions placed on them. For example consider the following difference:

(29)aArthur asked what the time was
Arthur asked the time
bWonder woman wondered what the time was
*Wonder woman wondered the time

The verbs ask and wonder both have questions as their complements, but only with ask can this question be expressed by a DP like the time. Thus there are extra restrictions imposed on complements which go beyond the requirement that they be compatible with the Θ-role that is assigned to them. In short, specifiers are more generally restricted than complements as they tend to be a uniform category for different heads and merely have to be compatible with the meaning of the head.

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