The Composition of (Dis)Continuous Predicates: Lexical or Syntactic?

Recent lexicalist analyses of predicates expressed by syntactically independent elements, raise central questions concerning the domain in which such complex predicates are composed. Should they be composed in phrase structure or within the lexicon? We will argue that a demonstration of syntactic separability for pieces of complex predicates is independent of whether such predicates should be viewed as being composed in the lexicon or phrase structure. We examine Hungarian complex predicates consisting of a syntactically separable preverb, inflectable for person/number features, and a verbal stem. We suggest that the interpretation of the person/number features as oblique pronominals governed by the complex predicate provides an argument for the assumption that predicates expressed by a several syntactically independent elements are better analyzed as associated with lexical representations than as composed in phrase structure. Ackerman & Webelhuth: The composition of (dis)continuous predicates The Composition of (Dis)Continuous Predicates: Lexical or Syntactic? 1 Farrell Ackerman and Gert Webelhuth 1. Pieces of predicates with syntactic independence The past few years have witnessed increased attention within lexicalist frameworks such as Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) and Head Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG) to the analysis of predicates expressed by syntactically independent pieces. The recognition of such phenomena, primarily represented in the literature by analytic or periphrastic causatives, raises central questions concerning the domain in which such complex predicates are composed. Given evidence for syntactic separability of the pieces of these predicates, is it compelling to assume that they must be formed in phrasal structure? If so, then the answer to the question posed in the title is that predicate composition is syntactic. Alternatively, are there reasons to argue that such compositions are still lexical, despite the obvious fact of surface independence for the pieces used to expressed these predicates? In related fashion, what would be the basis for a lexicalist perspective on such compositions and in what way would such a lexicalist approach differ from standard lexicalism? In order to understand the nature of these questions consider the following. It is well-known that Russian contains morphological predicates consisting of a prefix and a verbal stem. These predicates are standardly analyzed as morphophonologically integrated units representing atomic entities with respect to syntactic structure. We will refer to them as synthetic forms of predicates. An example is provided in (1) containing the prefix ob ‘around’: this prefix correlates with an increase in transitivity for the verbal stem yielding the direct object argument ‘lake’. (1) guljajuschie pary obxodjat ozero strolling pairs around-go-3/pl lake-ACC `The strolling couples walk around the lake’)) As is to be expected given the morphological status of this wordform, predicates such as these have clear derivatives, both nominal (2) and adjectival (3), related to them: (2) obxod N ‘round’ (as in ‘make the rounds’) (3) obxodnyj A ‘roundabout’ As in Russian, Hungarian has predicates where a preverbal (PV) element modifies certain lexical properties associated with the verbal stem. For example, in (4) we see an instance where the preverb bele ‘into’ correlates with an alteration of both the case Ackerman & Webelhuth: The composition of (dis)continuous predicates government pattern and the meaning associated with the verbal stem szol ‘speak, say, talk’: whereas szol is a one-place predicate, beleszol is a two-place predicate which governs the illative case for its oblique complement. (4) András beleszolt a vitába András into spoke the dispute-ILL `András intervened in the dispute’ Once again, as in Russian, the predicate appears to have a morphological status, serving as a base for derivational processes such as nominalization. In the present instance, the verb beleszol ‘intervene’ corresponds to the derived nominals beleszolás ‘intervention’ and bele nem szolás `non-intervention'. These obvious parallelisms between the predicates in Russian and Hungarian clearly suggest a uniform analysis. Such an analysis would appear to be compatible with standard lexical treatments, since, as presented thus far, we seem to be dealing with constructions that not only alter meaning, function assignments and determine case government 2, but are similar from a morphological perspective as well, since the predicates in both languages appear to be complex morphological compositions. Lexicalist accounts are well-suited to address such alterations of functional-semantic information when they are encoded by morphological entities. On the other hand, there is a property characteristic of the Hungarian predicates that distinguishes them from their Russian analogs: in Hungarian the preverb and the verb can function as independent elements in phrase structure. This independence is exemplified in (5) where the presence of the sentential negation element em ‘no’ immediately to the left of the verbal stem correlates with the postposing of the preverb: (5) András nem szolt bele a vitába András not spoke into the dispute-ILL) `András didn’t intervene in the dispute’ Formations whose pieces exhibit this sort of syntactic independence are often referred to as phrasal predicates given their analytic or periphrastic expression. Estonian, like Hungarian, possesses phrasal predicates. In (6) the preverb ära ‘away’ is associated with the predicate ära ostma ‘corrupt, suborn’. This predicate is based on the simple verb stem ostma ‘buy, purchase’. The preverb appears discontinuous from the verbal stem at the end of the clause in (6). (6) mees ostab ta sõbra ära man buy-3sg his friend-GEN away) `The man is bribing his friend’ Ackerman & Webelhuth: The composition of (dis)continuous predicates Predicates consisting of a separable preverb and a verbal stem can serve as bases for derivational operations. The following deverbal adjectival and nominal forms related to ära ostma ‘corrupt, suborn’ typify this possibility: