Subject: semantics / syntax - semantics interface / language acquisition

van hout , angeliek ; event semantics of verb frame alternations : a case study of dutch and its acquisition ; 0-8153 - 3128 - 2 , cloth ; pages , $ 91 ; garland publishing ; outstanding dissertations in linguistics using both theoretical and language acquisition arguments , this study proposes a new model of the lexicon-syntax interface defined in terms of checking event-semantic features . the research is based on dutch verbs and their possible verb frames ( intransitive , transitive , etc . ) and two studies of children 's dutch . the model developed from these cases represents more generally the way in which universal grammar organizes the lexicon of a language and the mapping system that associates a verb 's lexical features with its syntactic projection . the author shows that a predicate 's event-semantic or aspectual properties define the mapping relation between lexicon and syntax , rather than lexical-semantic information of the verb 's event participants , which is the more traditional view . a verb 's appearance in several different verb frames is determined by event type-shifting ; an atelic ( = unbounded ) or a telic ( = bounded ) event type yields different verb frames , and so does a non-causative or a causative event type . these effects can only be captured if the mapping relation is sensitive to event semantics . the two acquisition studies offer a new and unique perspective on verb learning . one is a longitudinal study on the acquisition of light verbs ; the other is an experimental study on the acquisition of intransitive verbs . they show that children are sensitive to event semantics from early in the language acquisition process . e - mail : info @ garland . com
