Dependency and Valency Approaches

This chapter provides a survey of various approaches within the field of dependency grammar. First, the basic concepts of Tesnière’s Éléments de syntaxe structurale (1959) such as actants, circonstants, junction, and translation are outlined. Then the application of the concept of dependency in different approaches such as that taken in Hudson’s Word Grammar and in Mel’čuk’s approach are discussed. Section 7.4 focuses on the development of valency theory and related approaches and their application to English, discussing the complement–adjunct distinction, the idea of optionality of complements and the approach taken to the description of valency in the Valency Dictionary of English. Finally, it will be shown how valency and dependency can be related to more recent constructionist theories.