Subcategorization Frame - The Status of Subjects

The Status of Subjects

The subcategorization notion is similar to the notion of valency, although subcategorization originates with phrase structure grammars in the Chomskyan tradition, whereas valency originates with Lucien Tesnière of the dependency grammar tradition. The primary difference between the two concepts concerns the status of the subject. As it was originally conceived of, subcategorization did not include the subject, that is, a verb subcategorized for its complement(s) (=object and oblique arguments) but not for its subject. Many modern theories now include the subject in the subcategorization frame, however. Valency, in contrast, included the subject from the start. In this regard, subcategorization is moving in the direction of valency, since many phrase structure grammars now see verbs subcategorizing for their subject as well as for their object(s).