Constructions, Lexical Semantics, and the Correspondence Principle: Accounting for Generalizations and Subregularities in the Realization of Arguments

Whether particular arguments are overtly realized in languages like English is not random. A number of researchers have put forward sweeping generalizations in order to capture certain general tendencies. This chapter, however, argues that these analyses underestimate the role of constructions, detailed lexical semantics and discourse factors. Given sufficient attention to these factors, the general tendencies, as well as productive classes of systematic exceptions, follow without additional grammatical stipulation.