The event argument and the light verb construction

Abstract

This thesis investigated the event argument, an abstract linguistic element proposed by Davidson (1967), and the light verb (VP-shell) construction, first proposed by Larson (1988). Recent theories regarding the location of the event argument in syntax range from claims that it is not represented syntactically, to locating it in lexical projections, to proposals assigning two functional projections for the syntactic representation of events. The purpose of this thesis was to analyze the relationship between the event argument and the light verb construction. The thesis is based on the Minimalist approach (Chomsky 1995). Different approaches to the event argument and the light verb construction were compared to determine their similarities and differences. A proposal was made regarding the relationship between the event argument and the light verb construction. This thesis claimed that the location of the event argument in syntactic structure is in the head of the light verb projection.