Coercion in a general theory of argument selection

In this article, I address the general mechanisms of argument selection in language, and specifically the role played by type coercion operations in linguistic theory. The view presented here is that compositional mechanisms must be open to more information than just the base type of an expression. Such “compositional flexibility” in the type that accommodates to the one selected by the verb has been the topic of considerable research recently. In this article, I position how such coercion mechanisms operate in the larger context of general selectional strategies in the grammar. I first outline my assumptions regarding the general theory of type selection, adopting a model of Generative Lexicon Theory (GL). I distinguish between two strategies at work in language, type matching and type coercion, both treated as strong compositional mechanisms. A library of possible coercion operations is defined, as well as apparent constraints on their application in language. I conclude with a discussion of corpus-based experiments based on the formal models of coercion and selection presented here.