A Semantic Argument for Complex Predicates (original) (raw)

On the internal and external syntax of depictive secondary predication

Papers from the International Workshop on Secondary Predication 2021, Masashi Kawashima, Hideki Kishimoto, Kazushige Moriyama (eds.), Kobe: Department of Linguistics, Graduate School of Humanities, Kobe University. 1–22., 2022

The internal and external syntax of depictive secondary predication constructions are the topic of this paper. A small clause structure with an internal silent (PRO) subject is developed with particular reference to the morphosyntax of (dis)sociatives in Hungarian. The depictive small clause is integrated into the containing syntax via asyndetic specification, which offers an account of the properties of depictives in the realms of extraction, constituency and linear order.

Alleged small clauses in Japanese

Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics, 2008

This paper is concerned with what is referred to as an alleged small clause (ASC-) construction, as in John-wa Mary-o itoshiku omotta/John-TOP Mary-ACC lovable thought/'John considered Mary lovable'. The most popular view among researchers today is that Mary-o and itoshiku form a small clause complement of the epistemic predicate omotta (e.g., Kikuchi and Takahashi 1990, Sode 1999, and Fukumitsu 2002). Koizumi (2002), however, points out a number of problems in the standard view. In this paper, I also argue against the small clause analysis of ASC-constructions, because a cluster of the syntactic and morphological properties of ASC-constructions is not predicted by a small clause analysis. Under the present analysis, itoshiku and omotta form a V-complex [itoshiku omotta] taking Mary-o as the direct (theme) object, and John as the experiencer subject. As such, itoshiku is a V-modifier, not having a direct thematic relation with Mary-o.

The ambiguity of projection and the chomskyan adjunction as a formal way of approaching predication in small clauses and secondary predication

Diadorim, 2019

This paper is focused on the syntax of the predication relations in predicative constructions such as the secondary predication and the small clause constructions. The goals are (i) to consider that adjunction structures à la Chomsky (1986) and May (1985) (opposing category vs. category segments) is an interesting solution to the syntax of predication, if combined with the idea that merge may be symmetrical in terms of projection (if α and β are merged, either α or β may project (CHOMSKY, 1995)); and (ii) to present a formal and unified approach to the grammar of different kinds of predication, based on Carreira (2015), specially emphasizing cases of small clauses and secondary predication. This paper presents new data from Brazilian Portuguese (BP), which challenges the classical analysis, as in Williams (1980), Stowell (1983) and Rothstein (1983) and minimalist analysis such as in Den Dikken (2006). This research is based upon the Minimalist Program by Chomsky (1995) and others. As we will argue, by exploring this mechanism, we might be able to provide a unified account for different types of predication.

Small Clauses: origins and state of affairs

Revista Linguíʃtica, 2017

This paper presents (part of) the debate on what has been called Small Clauses (SC), discussing its origins and state of the art. In a nutshell, they refer to a subset of constructions that express a tenseless subject-predicate relation. The proposals regarding the existence of SCs and their structural descriptions go along with the historical development of the Generative Program itself, raising important questions on grammar proposals and providing empirical findings. In this article, we present an historical background of some of those proposals that involve SCs and summarize some of their most prominent researchers, along with prototypical examples and Brazilian Portuguese data, when relevant.--------------------------------------------------------------------------Este artigo apresenta parte do debate sobre o que tem sido chamado de Small Clauses, sua origem e estado de arte. Small Clauses (ou Miniorações) se referem a um subgrupo de construções que expressam uma relação sujeit...

Approaches to English Clause Grammar

2016

This book is not a complete grammar of the English language. It will have little to say about significant features of English grammar such as the parts of speech, the syntax of phrases, the rules governing concord and other aspects of the system. It is not that these are unimportant to the topic of the clause grammar of English, however they have received extensive coverage in the excellent reference books on English grammar that have been published over the past few decades, such as the Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (Quirk et al. 1985), the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English (Biber et al. 1999) the Collins Cobuild Grammar (Sinclair 1990) and the Cambridge Grammar of English (Huddleston and Pullum 2002). Rather, the scope of this book is constrained to the English clause system from the perspective of clause combination. How the grammar of clause combination functions in English, and how the system patterns and develops both in the contemporary language and over historical time, is a less studied area of English grammar, though of great importance to understanding the system. This is the focus of the book Approaches to English Clause Grammar. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309156017\_Approaches\_to\_English\_Clause\_Grammar [accessed Sep 18, 2017].

Small Clauses and Default Case

This paper compares secondary predication constructions such as small clause complements, resultatives, and depictives in English and Korean. It argues that these two typologically different languages employ different modes of satisfying the Case Filter with regard to the Case of the subjects of small clauses. More specifically, it is argued that the subject of a small clause in English is Accusative Case-marked by the higher governing verb, while that in Korean is Nominative Case-marked by default.

The typology of non-argument clauses (Full version)

This is an extended version of the published paper. The full version is more elaborate with regard to the data and references that support the claims made in the main textthus containing substantially more footnotes to point the reader to the relevant work. Additionally, §2.3 on accessibility in relativization includes more phenomena and examples than the printed version and, most importantly, this extended version features a section on supplementary relative clauses ( §2.4) that cannot be found in the publication at all.