The Argument Structure of Experience: Experiential Constructions in Early Vedic, Homeric Greek and Early Latin1

In this paper we investigate different types of argument‐structure constructions associated with so‐called experiential predicates in Early Vedic, Homeric Greek and Early Latin. We argue that the broad range of argument‐realisation patterns associated with experiential verbs in these languages reflects the fact that experiential predicates differ in fundamental respects from prototypically transitive verbs which we take to represent the perhaps most salient verb type in natural language. We survey the most important construction types attested in the domain of experience in the languages under scrutiny with particular regard to recurrent paths of association between experiential verb classes and their argument‐realisation options. Finally, on the basis of our data we provide some proposals regarding the main tendencies in the linguistic organisation of this complex functional domain in Proto‐Indo‐European.