Argument structure: Relationships between theory and acquisition

This chapter brings together perspectives from theoretical linguistics and from language acquisition research to ask how these mutually inform each other with respect to the question of how argument structure knowledge is represented in the mind. Three theories of argument structure representation are considered: Lexical Projectionism, Compositional Non–projectionism, and Construction Grammar, and their relationships to our understanding of child language development are explored. Though several apparent points of contact between these literatures are considered, I conclude that, largely, the acquisition data do not clearly support any one of the argument structure architectures. Nevertheless, I point out some promising directions for future experimental research with children.