Liina Pylkkänen's *Introducing Arguments* explores how "noncore" arguments are integrated into argument structures in human language. The book, based on her 2002 MIT Ph.D. dissertation, investigates complex predicates, including double object constructions, benefactives, possessor datives, adversity passives, and causatives. Pylkkänen argues that noncore arguments are introduced by seven functional heads, which are part of a universal inventory of functional elements. Cross-linguistic variation is attributed to differences in the selection of functional heads and how languages bundle them into syntactic heads. Pylkkänen examines Japanese constructions to support her theory, which has implications for Japanese linguistics. She distinguishes between two types of applicative constructions: high applicatives, which relate an event to an individual, and low applicatives, which involve a transfer-of-possession relation between two individuals. She also analyzes causatives, arguing that they involve a causative head and that cross-linguistic variation arises from differences in the relation between Cause and Voice and the type of complement of Cause. Pylkkänen's theory of causatives proposes two parameters: Voice-bundling, which determines whether Voice and Cause are separate heads, and selection, which determines the size of the complement the causative head selects. These parameters account for cross-linguistic variation in causative constructions. Her analysis of Japanese causatives shows that "lexical" causatives, like English zero-causatives, have root-selecting properties, while "syntactic" causatives, like those in Japanese, are phase-selecting. Pylkkänen's work provides a unified framework for understanding complex predicates and has influenced research in linguistics. Her theory connects neo-Davidsonian event semantics with analyses of applicative and causative constructions. The book is a significant contribution to the study of argument structures and complex predicates, offering new insights into the mechanisms that allow noncore arguments to be integrated into verb structures.Liina Pylkkänen's *Introducing Arguments* explores how "noncore" arguments are integrated into argument structures in human language. The book, based on her 2002 MIT Ph.D. dissertation, investigates complex predicates, including double object constructions, benefactives, possessor datives, adversity passives, and causatives. Pylkkänen argues that noncore arguments are introduced by seven functional heads, which are part of a universal inventory of functional elements. Cross-linguistic variation is attributed to differences in the selection of functional heads and how languages bundle them into syntactic heads. Pylkkänen examines Japanese constructions to support her theory, which has implications for Japanese linguistics. She distinguishes between two types of applicative constructions: high applicatives, which relate an event to an individual, and low applicatives, which involve a transfer-of-possession relation between two individuals. She also analyzes causatives, arguing that they involve a causative head and that cross-linguistic variation arises from differences in the relation between Cause and Voice and the type of complement of Cause. Pylkkänen's theory of causatives proposes two parameters: Voice-bundling, which determines whether Voice and Cause are separate heads, and selection, which determines the size of the complement the causative head selects. These parameters account for cross-linguistic variation in causative constructions. Her analysis of Japanese causatives shows that "lexical" causatives, like English zero-causatives, have root-selecting properties, while "syntactic" causatives, like those in Japanese, are phase-selecting. Pylkkänen's work provides a unified framework for understanding complex predicates and has influenced research in linguistics. Her theory connects neo-Davidsonian event semantics with analyses of applicative and causative constructions. The book is a significant contribution to the study of argument structures and complex predicates, offering new insights into the mechanisms that allow noncore arguments to be integrated into verb structures.