Selection (linguistics)

In linguistics, selection denotes the ability of predicates to determine the semantic content of their arguments.[1] Predicates select their arguments, which means they limit the semantic content of their arguments. One sometimes draws a distinction between types of selection; one acknowledges both s(emantic)-selection and c(ategory)-selection. Selection in general stands in contrast to subcategorization:[2] predicates both select and subcategorize for their complement arguments, whereas they only select their subject arguments. Selection is a semantic concept, whereas subcategorization is a syntactic one.[3] Selection is closely related to valency, a term used in other grammars than the Chomskian generative grammar, for a similar phenomenon.

  1. ^ For discussions of selection in general, see Chomsky (1965), Horrocks (1986:35f.), van Riemsdijk and Williams (1986:130), Cowper (1992:58), Napoli (1993:260ff.), Carnie (2007:220-221).
  2. ^ See Fowler (1971:58) concerning the distinction between selection and subcategorization.
  3. ^ Resnik, P. (1993). Semantic classes and syntactic ambiguity. In HUMAN LANGUAGE TECHNOLOGY: Proceedings of a Workshop Held at Plainsboro, New Jersey, March 21-24, 1993, p.279, "selectional preference (..) a class of restrictions on co-occurrence that is orthogonal to syntactic constraints"