ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews various models of the lexicon-syntax interface that have been proposed since the early eighties. Interface models analyze and explain the links between a verb's lexical specification and its appearance in verb frames. There are two major issues an interface model has to address: (i) Which features are relevant in the interface and how can they be formalized? (ii) How does the mapping algorithm associate these features with verb frames? On top of these basic issues comes the need to deal with a verb's flexible behavior, i.e., the phenomenon that it can appear in various frames. Several kinds of lexical specification have been proposed, ranging from subcategorization frames to θ-roles and from argument structures to lexical-conceptual and lexical-relational structures. Various kinds of mapping systems have been proposed as well, ranging from principles of projection and linking and procedures of θ-role assignment to mapping governed by aspectual considerations. Verbs' flexible behavior challenges lexicon-syntax models. Some models resolve this challenge by locating flexibility in the lexicon, i.e., via lexical rules; others deal with it as a syntactic phenomenon, i.e., the outcome of movement.
