Subcategorization frame

In syntactic linguistic theory, the subcategorization frame of a word is the number and types of syntactic arguments that it co-occurs with (i. e. the number and kinds of other words that it selects when appearing in a sentence). So, in Indiana Jones ate chilled monkey brain, eat selects, or subcategorizes for, Indiana Jones and chilled monkey brain.

Subcategorization is a natural language phenomenon, which denotes the tendency of the verbs to have certain preferences regarding the arguments that they can take. For example, some verbs do not take a noun-phrase object, while some verbs do take an object, or two objects (direct and indirect). The name `subcategorization' is due to the fact that the category of verbs is divided into finer grained subcategories of different types of verbs based on the arguments they take.

Subcategorization frames are specifications of the number and types of arguments of a word, and they are believed to be listed as lexical information (that is, they are thought of as part of a speaker's knowledge of the word in the vocabulary of the language). For instance, a monotransitive verb, like eat, subcategorizes for a subject noun phrase and an object noun phrase. A ditransitive verb, like give, subcategorizes for a subject noun phrase, an indirect object noun phrase, and a direct object noun phrase. A caused-motion verb, like put subcategorizes for a subject noun phrase, an object noun phrase and a locative adverbial prepositional phrase.

Subcategorization frames are essential parts of Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar and Lexical Functional Grammar.