| Preface | 6 |
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| Contents | 8 |
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| Figures | 11 |
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| Tables | 13 |
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| Abbreviations | 16 |
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| 1 Introduction | 18 |
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| 1.1 Major questions | 18 |
| 1.2 The model of analysis – overview and important concepts | 20 |
| 1.2.1 Valency models – a brief overview | 20 |
| 1.2.2 Valency carriers, complements and adjuncts, and different types of valency | 21 |
| 1.2.3 Valency patterns | 23 |
| 1.2.4 Optionality of complements | 25 |
| 1.2.5 Subject complement unit (SCU) and predicate complement units (PCUs) | 27 |
| 1.2.6 Levels of valency and the use of semantic roles | 28 |
| 1.2.7 Valency constructions | 32 |
| 1.2.8 Complement types | 33 |
| 1.2.9 Participant roles | 34 |
| 1.3 Design of the study | 37 |
| 2 The meaning of complements | 40 |
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| 2.1 Complement types as part of a verb’s valency structure | 40 |
| 2.1.1 Overview | 40 |
| 2.1.2 Complement types | 40 |
| 2.1.3 Valency structures – introducing the model used | 46 |
| 2.2 Alternative realizations of participants | 49 |
| 2.2.1 Semantic specialization vs. synonymy of complement types | 49 |
| 2.2.1.1 AGENT + talk + TOPIC | 49 |
| 2.2.1.2 AGENT + agree + TOPIC/REFERENCE | 53 |
| 2.2.1.3 AGENT + forget + ÆFFECTED | 64 |
| 2.2.2 Polysemous complement types | 66 |
| 2.2.2.1 AGENT + cheat + REFERENCE | 66 |
| 2.2.2.2 AGENT + argue + TOPIC/REFERENCE | 72 |
| 2.2.2.3 AGENT + inform + TOPIC | 77 |
| 2.2.3 Blocked patterns | 81 |
| 2.3 Conclusion | 84 |
| 2.3.1 No stable semantic properties | 85 |
| 2.3.2 Synonymous and polysemous complement types | 95 |
| 3 Pattern choice and verb meaning | 99 |
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| 3.1 Assessing the role of verb meaning – theoretical assumptions | 99 |
| 3.2 A comparison of semantically similar verbs | 103 |
| 3.2.1 The database – introduction and description of methodology | 103 |
| 3.2.2 Semantically similar verbs and their pattern inventories | 109 |
| 3.2.3 Results of the analysis – quantitative evaluation | 131 |
| 3.3 Phenomena identified in the analysis | 141 |
| 3.3.1 Complementation options in a valency framework – an overview | 141 |
| 3.3.2 Same valency pattern but different participant pattern | 145 |
| 3.3.3 Same pattern restricted to a very specific context | 151 |
| 3.3.4 Different formal realizations of the same participant | 158 |
| 3.3.4.1 Differences in optionality | 158 |
| 3.3.4.2 Different formal realizations of the same participant – an overview | 162 |
| 3.3.4.3 Different formal realizations of BENREC | 172 |
| 3.3.4.4 Different formal realizations of PREDICATIVE | 176 |
| 3.3.4.5 Different formal realizations of TOPIC | 182 |
| 3.3.4.6 Different formal realizations of ÆFFECTED | 187 |
| 3.3.4.7 Different formal realizations of PREFERENCE and AIM | 206 |
| 3.3.4.8 Conclusion | 208 |
| 3.3.5 Different flexibility in the combination of participants | 210 |
| 3.3.6 Frequency-based differences in the choice of complements | 213 |
| 3.3.7 Formal similarity between verbs of opposite meaning | 224 |
| 3.4 Different aspects of verb meaning and pattern choice | 225 |
| 3.4.1 The participant inventory | 226 |
| 3.4.2 Selection restrictions | 229 |
| 3.4.3 The situation type of the verb | 240 |
| 3.5 Implications | 252 |
| 4 The meaning of patterns | 266 |
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| 4.1 The pattern as an additional entity | 266 |
| 4.1.1 Complement type-independent pattern restrictions | 266 |
| 4.1.2 Participant mergers | 271 |
| 4.1.3 Instability of complement-participant correlation | 273 |
| 4.1.4 Realization of participants dependent on the overall pattern | 278 |
| 4.1.5 Conclusion | 280 |
| 4.2 The relationship between pattern and meaning | 281 |
| 4.2.1 Same valency pattern – same participant pattern? | 281 |
| 4.2.1.1 Theoretical background: assumptions of construction grammar | 281 |
| 4.2.1.2 The pattern [NP + verb + NP + NP] | 284 |
| 4.2.1.3 The pattern [NP + verb + for_NP] | 289 |
| 4.2.2 Same valency pattern – similar verb meaning? | 295 |
| 4.2.2.1 Verb class studies – a brief review | 296 |
| 4.2.2.2 Semantic verb groups based on pattern groups | 301 |
| 5 Conclusion | 309 |
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| 5.1 Different approaches towards the syntax-semantics interface – an assessment in the light of empirical findings | 309 |
| 5.2 Summary of the results | 316 |
| 5.2.1 Lexical aspect, selection restrictions, and participant inventories | 316 |
| 5.2.2 Competition with other lexical units of the same lexeme | 319 |
| 5.2.3 No stable complement type or pattern meaning | 321 |
| 5.2.4 Verb meaning not predictable from pattern choice | 325 |
| 5.2.5 Accounting for alternative valency constructions | 326 |
| 5.2.6 Idiomaticity in complementation | 330 |
| 5.3 Implications for a theory of complementation | 334 |
| Appendix 1 | 344 |
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| References | 346 |
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| Index | 368 |
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