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 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 complex transitive 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 Carl Pollard and Ivan Sag's Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar and Joan Bresnan's lexical functional grammar.

Syntax