The Dual Analysis of Adjuncts/Complements in Categorial Grammar

  • The distinction between COMPLEMENTS and ADJUNCTS has a long tradition in grammatical theory, and it is also included in some way or other in most current formal linguistic theories. But it is a highly vexed distinction, for several reasons, one of which is that no diagnostic criteria have emerged that will reliably distinguish adjuncts from complements in all cases – too many examples seem to "fall into the crack" between the two categories, no matter how theorists wrestle with them. In this paper, I will argue that this empirical diagnostic "problem" is, in fact, precisely what we should expect to find in natural language, when a proper understanding of the adjunct/complement distinction is achieved: the key hypothesis is that a complete grammar should provide a DUAL ANALYSIS of every complement as an adjunct, and potentially, an analysis of any adjunct as a complement. What this means and why it is motivated by linguistic evidence will be discussed in detail.

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Metadaten
Author:David Dowty
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-307312
URL:http://www.zas.gwz-berlin.de/209.html
ISSN:1435-9588
ISSN:0947-7055
Parent Title (English):Approaching the grammar of adjuncts : proceedings of the Oslo conference, September 22-25, 1999, Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung, Berlin, 1999; ZAS papers in linguistics Vol. 17
Publisher:Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung
Place of publication:Berlin
Document Type:Part of a Book
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2013/11/14
Year of first Publication:2000
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2013/11/14
GND Keyword:Sprachtypologie; Generative Grammatik; Kontrastive Linguistik; Adjunkt <Linguistik>; Ergänzung <Linguistik>
Volume:17
Page Number:26
First Page:53
Last Page:78
HeBIS-PPN:45432054X
Dewey Decimal Classification:4 Sprache / 41 Linguistik / 410 Linguistik
Sammlungen:Linguistik
Linguistik-Klassifikation:Linguistik-Klassifikation: Syntax
Linguistik-Klassifikation: Sprachtypologie / Language typology
Linguistik-Klassifikation: Kontrastive Linguistik / Contrastive linguistics
Zeitschriften / Jahresberichte:ZAS papers in linguistics : ZASPiL / ZASPiL 17 = Approaching the grammar of adjuncts : Proceedings of the Oslo Conference
:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-306599
Licence (German):License LogoDeutsches Urheberrecht