Encoding Events
Functional Structure and Variation
Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics Series, Vol. 70

This volume presents theoretical and empirical research on the syntax of events within the broader framework of generative grammar, focusing on the central question of how conceptual meaning interacts with narrow syntactic computation. Xuhui Hu proposes a set of integration conditions that require the content of the predicate to be licensed by theta-role information generated by narrow syntax. The other principal theoretical component of the book concerns the functional structure of events, which is related to issues such as the parallel between the event and nominal domains, the mapping of a predicate onto an entity, and the grammatical foundation of verb classification. The framework is applied to three areas: the syntax of resultatives in English and Chinese, cross-linguistic and diachronic variation in resultatives, and applicative constructions. The findings shed light on the thematic relationship between core arguments and predicates and on the syntax of non-core arguments, contribute to the theory of parametric variation in the generative tradition, and provide insights into the verb-framed vs satellite-framed typology

Xuhui Hu received his PhD in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics from the University of Cambridge in 2015, and is now Assistant Professor at the Institute of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at Peking University. His research interests include syntactic theory, comparative and diachronic syntax, morphology, and pragmatics.