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.<\/p>\n
This work is highly collaborative. My collaborators include Roxana-Maria Barbu,\u00a0 Katie Van Luven, Rob Truswell, Ash Asudeh, Gianluca Giorgolo, Lisa Sullivan,\u00a0 Liz Christie, Paul Melchin, Daniel Di Giovanni,\u00a0Lara Russo, and others.<\/p>\n
2026. Toivonen, Ida. The tripartite distinction between grammar, cognition, and the world.<\/a> In: Mary Dalrymple, Tina B\u00f6gel, Annette Hautli-Janisz, Ronald M. Kaplan, Annie Zaenen (eds.), Parallelism, Interconnection, and Complementary Distribution: Papers in Honor of Miriam Butt and Tracy Holloway King,381-403. Konstanz: PubliKon. 2024. Argument eller icke-argument?<\/a> Handout from a talk presented at Gramino 4,<\/em> Sigtuna (June 3-4, 2024). <\/p>\n 2024. The obligatoriness of arguments.<\/a> With Katie Van Luven. Language and Linguistics Compass<\/em>, e12511.<\/p>\n 2021. Arguments and adjuncts across levels.<\/a> In: Miriam Butt, Jamie Findlay, and Ida Toivonen (eds.), Proceedings of the LFG21 Conference,<\/em> 306–331. Stanford: CSLI Publications.<\/p>\n 2018. Wh-word conjunction as a test for argumenthood and obligatoriness. <\/a> With Paul Melchin. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America 3.<\/em><\/p>\n 2016. Arguments and adjuncts at the syntax-semantics interface.<\/a> With Roxana-Maria Barbu. Proceedings 2016. Event participants and linguistic arguments.<\/a> With Roxana-Maria Barbu. Proceedings of CogSci 2016. <\/em><\/p>\n 2015. East Cree Ghost participants.<\/a> With Marie-Odile Junker. Proceedings of the LFG15 Conference.<\/em><\/p>\n 2014. Meaning and valency.<\/a> With Ash Asudeh and Gianluca Giorgolo. Proceedings of the LFG14 Conference,<\/em> 68–88.<\/p>\n 2011. The argumenthood status of directional PPs. With Katie Van Luven.\u00a0 \u00a0Poster presented at the 2013. English benefactive NPs.<\/a> Proceedings of the LFG13 Conference,<\/em> 503–523.<\/p>\n 2011. Derived arguments.\u00a0 With Stephanie Needham. Proceedings of the LFG11 Conference,<\/em> 401–421. 1995. A study of Finnish infinitives. BA honor’s thesis, Brandeis University. pdf<\/a><\/p>\n The following students have also done very interesting work on the argument-adjunct distinction:<\/p>\n Roxana-Maria Barbu. 2020. On the Psycholinguistics of Argumenthood. PhD Thesis, Cognitive Science, 杏吧原创 University.<\/p>\n Daniel Di Giovanni. 2015. Neural and predictive effects of verb argument structure. Master’s Thesis, Cognitive Science, 杏吧原创 University.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Christie. 2015. The English Resultative. Ph.D. Thesis, Cognitive Science, 杏吧原创 University.<\/p>\n
\n(The volume can be found here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n
\nof Florida Yearly Linguistic Meeting 3 (FLYM 3)<\/em><\/p>\n
\nLSA Annual Meeting. <\/em><\/p>\n
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