Arguments and selection (On the functional analysis of arguments in Hungarian)

Abstract

This paper discusses the difference between verb complement types. It is argued that verb complements are an issue that form-oriented approaches can no longer tackle, therefore, language-use based approaches have to be called for. Since the borderlines between arguments, valencies and semantic complements are rather fuzzy, the strict categories created by linguists in this respect can never be constant. Changes on the semantic/lexical level are driven by metaphorization, the major tool of which is grammaticalization on the structural level. The paper proposes that word order can be used to mark categorical changes.