Lexical or Syntactic 1

Ackerman&Webelhuth:Thecompositionof(dis)continuouspredicatesAbstractRecentlexicalistanalysesofpredicatesexpressedbysyntacticallyindependentelements,raisecentralquestionsconcerningthedomaininwhichsuchcomplexpredicatesarecomposed.Shouldtheybecomposedinphrasestructureorwithinthelexicon?Wewillarguethatademonstrationofsyntacticseparabilityforpiecesofcomplexpredicatesisindependentofwhethersuchpredicatesshouldbeviewedasbeingcomposedinthelexiconorphrasestructure.WeexamineHungariancomplexpredicatesconsistingofasyntacticallyseparablepreverb,inflectableforperson/numberfeatures,andaverbalstem.Wesuggestthattheinterpretationoftheperson/numberfeaturesasobliquepronominalsgovernedbythecomplexpredicateprovidesanargumentfortheassumptionthatpredicatesexpressedbyaseveralsyntacticallyindependentelementsarebetteranalyzedasassociatedwithlexicalrepresentationsthanascomposedinphrasestructure.Ackerman&Webelhuth:Thecompositionof(dis)continuouspredicatesTheCompositionof(Dis)ContinuousPredicates:LexicalorSyntactic?1FarrellAckermanandGertWebelhuth1.PiecesofpredicateswithsyntacticindependenceThepastfewyearshavewitnessedincreasedattentionwithinlexicalistframeworkssuchasLexicalFunctionalGrammar(LFG)andHeadDrivenPhraseStructureGrammar(HPSG)totheanalysisofpredicatesexpressedbysyntacticallyindependentpieces.Therecognitionofsuchphenomena,primarilyrepresentedintheliteraturebyanalyticorperiphrasticcausatives,raisescentralquestionsconcerningthedomaininwhichsuchcomplexpredicatesarecomposed.Givenevidenceforsyntacticseparabilityofthepiecesofthesepredicates,isitcompellingtoassumethattheymustbeformedinphrasalstructure?Ifso,thentheanswertothequestionposedinthetitleisthatpredicatecompositionissyntactic.Alternatively,aretherereasonstoarguethatsuchcompositionsarestilllexical,despitetheobviousfactofsurfaceindependenceforthepiecesusedtoexpressedthesepredicates?Inrelatedfashion,whatwouldbethebasisforalexicalistperspectiveonsuchcompositionsandinwhatwaywouldsuchalexicalistapproachdifferfromstandardlexicalism?Inordertounderstandthenatureofthesequestionsconsiderthefollowing.Itiswell-knownthatRussiancontainsmorphologicalpredicatesconsistingofaprefixandaverbalstem.Thesepredicatesarestandardlyanalyzedasmorphophonologicallyintegratedunitsrepresentingatomicentitieswithrespecttosyntacticstructure.Wewillrefertothemassyntheticformsofpredicates.Anexampleisprovidedin(1)containingtheprefixob‘around’:thisprefixcorrelateswithanincreaseintransitivityfortheverbalstemyieldingthedirectobjectargument‘lake’.(1)guljajuschieparyobxodjatozerostrollingpairsaround-go-3/pllake-ACC`Thestrollingcoupleswalkaroundthelake’))Asistobeexpectedgiventhemorphologicalstatusofthiswordform,predicatessuchasthesehaveclearderivatives,bothnominal(2)andadjectival(3),relatedtothem:(2)obxodN‘round’(asin‘maketherounds’)(3)obxodnyjA‘roundabout’AsinRussian,Hungarianhaspredicateswhereapreverbal(PV)elementmodifiescertainlexicalpropertiesassociatedwiththeverbalstem.Forexample,in(4)weseeaninstancewherethepreverbbele‘into’correlateswithanalterationofboththecaseAckerman&Webelhuth:Thecompositionof(dis)continuouspredicatesgovernmentpatternandthemeaningassociatedwiththeverbalstemszol‘speak,say,talk’:whereasszolisaone-placepredicate,beleszolisatwo-placepredicatewhichgovernstheillativecaseforitsobliquecomplement.(4)AndrásbeleszoltavitábaAndrásintospokethedispute-ILL`Andrásintervenedinthedispute’Onceagain,asinRussian,thepredicateappearstohaveamorphologicalstatus,servingasabaseforderivationalprocessessuchasnominalization.Inthepresentinstance,theverbbeleszol‘intervene’correspondstothederivednominalsbeleszolás‘intervention’andbelenemszolás`non-intervention'.TheseobviousparallelismsbetweenthepredicatesinRussianandHungarianclearlysuggestauniformanalysis.Suchananalysiswouldappeartobecompatiblewithstandardlexicaltreatments,since,aspresentedthusfar,weseemtobedealingwithconstructionsthatnotonlyaltermeaning,functionassignmentsanddeterminecasegovernment2,butaresimilarfromamorphologicalperspectiveaswell,sincethepredicatesinbothlanguagesappeartobecomplexmorphologicalcompositions.Lexicalistaccountsarewell-suitedtoaddresssuchalterationsoffunctional-semanticinformationwhentheyareencodedbymorphologicalentities.Ontheotherhand,thereisapropertycharacteristicoftheHungarianpredicatesthatdistinguishesthemfromtheirRussiananalogs:inHungarianthepreverbandtheverbcanfunctionasindependentelementsinphrasestructure.Thisindependenceisexemplifiedin(5)wherethepresenceofthesententialnegationelementnem‘no’immediatelytotheleftoftheverbalstemcorrelateswiththepostposingofthepreverb:(5)AndrásnemszoltbeleavitábaAndrásnotspokeintothedispute-ILL)`Andrásdidn’tinterveneinthedispute’Formationswhosepiecesexhibitthissortofsyntacticindependenceareoftenreferredtoasphrasalpredicatesgiventheiranalyticorperiphrasticexpression.Estonian,likeHungarian,possessesphrasalpredicates.In(6)thepreverbära‘away’isassociatedwiththepredicateäraostma‘corrupt,suborn’.Thispredicateisbasedonthesimpleverbstemostma‘buy,purchase’.Thepreverbappearsdiscontinuousfromtheverbalstemattheendoftheclausei