The small-clause complement analysis

Hoekstra & Mulder (1990) propose a small-clause as complement for motion verbs, posture verbs, and swarm-type verbs that appear with locational phrases in Dutch. These verbs are all argued to behave as unergative in their by-default configuration with an external argument. The way in which the lexical meaning of these verbs is deployed in the syntax turns them into what they call copular expressions rather than full-fledged lexical verbs. In their terms, a copular verb, such as be, stay, or remain in English, is one that selects a small-clause as its complement and cannot project a specifier to lodge an external argument (62). The subject noun phrase of the small-clause is not a true argument of the verb, but can raise from this position to satisfy the sentence’s requirement to have a subject, thus triggering the movement of the noun phrase to Spec,IP to receive nominative case (63). ⁴⁵

45 Hoekstra & Mulder propose the following diagnostics to determine the unergative status of a verb in Dutch: (i) selection of hebben ‘have’ as auxiliary for the perfect; (ii) impossibility to use the past participle of an unergative verb as prenominal modifier; (iii) use of the impersonal passive; (iv) selection of a result small-clause with a lexical subject; and (v) availability of middle formation with adjunct subjects.

(i ) dat Jan heeft gesprongen/gewandeld/gezwommen/gevlogen (Dutch) that Jan has jumped/ walked/ swum/ flown

(ii) *een gesprongen/gewandelde/gezwommen/gevlogen jongen a jumped/ walked/ swum/ flown boy (iii) dat er werd gesprongen/gewandeld/gezwommen/gevlogen that there was jumped/ walked/ swum/ flown ‘that people were jumping/walking/swimming/flying’

(iv) a. dat Jan zijn schoenen scheef loopt that John his shoes worn on one side walks b. dat Jan de matras aan barrels heeft gesprongen that John the matras to pieces has jumped

c. dat Jan zijn tegenstanders op achterstand heeft gezwommen that John his adversaries on arrears has swum

(62) NP V ⟷ V [SC NP PRED]

(Hoekstra & Mulder 1990:3, (1)) (63) NPi INFL [vp V [SC ti PP]

(Hoekstra & Mulder 1990:4, (5))

The derived nature of the surface subject of these verbs and the presence of a complement small-clause can be confirmed by examining data about auxiliary selection in the perfect, the omissibility of the prepositional phrase, and the type of subject entities that might appear in this alleged configuration.

(v) a. dat deze schoenen lekker lopen Dutch posture verbs such as hangen ‘hang’, zitten ‘sit’, and liggen ‘lie’ would behave similarly to motion verbs inasmuch as they can take as complement a small-clause, whose subject must raise to Spec,IP to receive case. These verbs alternate between an unergative behavior by default and an unaccusative behavior when they select for a small-clause as complement. Hoekstra & Mulder note that their semantics, namely, “the absence of an activity component” (1990:12), complicates the acceptability of the various diagnostics checking for unergativity; nevertheless, it is still possible to obtain result small-clauses (vi), adjunct middles (vii), and impersonal passives (viii). This observation tallies with the event semantics put forward for these verbs in the previous sections of this chapter, according to which these verbs instantiate by default a non-dynamic proc head, to which init and res heads may be attached to denote causational events. As for the unergative behavior of swarm-type verbs, see chapter 4 of this

First, the data of auxiliary selection in the perfect comes from motion verbs in Dutch and Italian (64-65). When these verbs select a small-clause as complement and, thus, behave as unaccusative, they appear with zijn (64b) and essere ‘be’ (65b), respectively; in contrast, when they select for an external argument, they appear with hebben (64a) and avere (65a) ‘have’. Note that, in (64b-65b), the prepositional phrase behaves as the endpoint of the event.

(64) a. Jan heft gesprongen (Dutch)

Jan has jumped

b. Jan is in de sloot gesprongen Jan is in the ditch jumped

(65) a. Gianni ha corso (Italian)

Gianni has run b. Gianni e corso a casa Gianni is run to home

(Hoekstra & Mulder 1990:4, (2-3))

Next, the possibility to omit (66a), move (66b), and separate (66c) the prepositional phrase element from the verb can be taken as a good indicator of the adjunct status of the prepositional phrase. The contrary should be taken as an indicator of the argument status of the prepositional phrase, that is, the prepositional phrase is part of a small-clause including the noun phrase subject and, accordingly, cannot be omitted (67a), moved (67b), or separated from the verb (67c).

(66) a. dat Jan gesprongen heft (Dutch)

b. dat Jan gesprongen heeft in de sloot c. dat Jan in de sloot vaak gesprongen heft

(67) a. *dat Jan is gesprongen

b. *dat Jan is gesprongen in de sloot c. *dat Jan in de sloot vaak gesprongen is

(Hoekstra & Mulder 1990:9, (14-15))

The prepositional phrases that appear with these verbs can be ambiguous and, therefore, they may be interpreted either as adjuncts or arguments of a small-clause. In the case of motion verbs, the adjunct reading of the prepositional phrase comes along with the entire VP in focus, receiving both the verb and the adjunct stress (68). By contrast, the directional reading with a small-clause bears (integrative) stress exclusively on the noun phrase inside the prepositional phrase (68b). Note also the different auxiliaries in the sentences.

(68) a. dat Jan in de SLOOT geSPRONGen heeft b. dat Jan in de SLOOT gesprongen is

(Hoekstra & Mulder 1990:9, (16))

The same would be true for posture verbs. In the adjunct interpretation (69a), the prepositional phrase could appear either before or after the verb and both elements could receive stress. In the argument interpretation (69b), the prepositional phrase appears obligatorily in front of the verb and the noun phrase selected by the preposition receives stress.

(69) a. dat de ooievaar in de SLOOT STAAT / in de SLOOT staat that the stork in the ditch stands

b. dat the ooievaar STAAT in de SLOOT / *staat in de SLOOT

(Hoekstra & Mulder 1990:13, (23))

The last set of examples provided by Hoekstra & Mulder (1990) suggest that this ambiguity is not always at play and that posture verbs can co-occur unambiguously with a small-clause, where the prepositional phrase would necessarily be an argument instead of an adjunct (70-71). The argument status of the prepositional phrase explains its obligatory pre-verbal position (70) and the impossibility to omit it (71).

(70) a. dat de humor op straat ligt/*ligt op straat that the humor on (the) street lies/ lies on (the street) b. dat er fouten in de tekst zitten/*zitten in de tekst that there mistakes in the text sit/ sit in the tekst

c. dat dat nieuws in de krant stond/*stond in de krant

The obligatoriness of the small-clause complement is explained by the fact that, in these examples, the surface subjects are not selected by the verb, but rather they are raised from the specifier position of the small-clause, as shown by the fact that the verb imposes no lexical restrictions on them.⁴⁶ This is also applicable to motion verbs in (72).

46 Mulder & Werhmann (1989) note that an important characteristic of Dutch locational verbs in contrast to English is that they are used in contexts where English would make use of be. These verbs apply very specific selectional restrictions on their locations and materials, or locatums in their terms (i). These restrictions can be appreciated more clearly in the examples in (ii) through (iii).

(i) a. If the material, or locatum, is a round object, use liggen ‘lie’.

b. If the location is an enclosed space, use zitten ‘sit’.

c. If the material, or locatum, and the location are related to something printed or written, use staan

‘stand’.

(Mulder & Wehrmann 1989:114) (ii) a. De knikkers liggen/*zitten/*staan op de tafel

the marbles lie/ sit/ stand on the table b. De tafel ligt/*zit/*staat vol knikkers the table lies/ sits/ stands full with marbles (iii) a. De knikkers *liggen/zitten/*staan in het zakje the marbles lie/ sit/ stand in the bag These uses of posture verbs in Dutch do not contain a manner component. They merely relate the figure to the ground behaving as a link between these elements to establish a predicational relation. Thus, in copular constructions, there is no implication of a co-event. The posture verb in these constructions seems

(72) a. dat het licht op groen springt that the light to green jumps b. dat het huis in brand bliegt that the house on fire flies

c. dat het feest in het honderd loopt that the party out of hand walks

(Hoekstra & Mulder 1990:11, (18-19)) Hoekstra & Mulder (1990) conclude that “[i]f the verb predicates of a state, i.e. if it takes a SC-complement, it does not impose such selectional requirements on its subject […], as its subject in those cases is a derived subject, selected merely by the predicate of the SC-complement”. Finally, note that in example (71a) the omission of the prepositional phrase does not make the sequence ungrammatical. This apparent exception can be accommodated if we assume that the subject entity is an animate participant exerting control over the situation and, thus, the first phase syntax should include an initiational phrase, while with inanimate objects the first phase syntax could only contain a process phrase. Further evidence to support this assumption comes from Mulder &

Wehrmann’s (1989) study of locational verbs in Dutch. The authors provide the following examples, which allows us to contrast the different degrees of acceptability of animate and non-animate entities as derived subjects with posture verbs when the prepositional phrase is left out (73-75).

(73) a. Het kind zit in de stoel the child sits in the chair b. Het boek ligt op tafel the book lies on table c. De jas hang in de kast the coat hangs in the closet d. De lamp staat in de hoek the lamp stands in the corner

(Mulder & Wehrmann 1989:115, (21))

to be a light version of the main verb, devoid of lexical content. See section 5 of this chapter for further discussion.

(74) a. dat het kind zit in de stoel that the child sits in the chair b. ^?dat het boek ligt op tafel that the book lies on table c. ^?dat de jas hangt in de kast that the coat hangs in the closet d. ^?dat de lamp staat in de hoek that the lamp stands in the corner (75) a. Het kind zit

the child sits b. ^?Het boek ligt the book lies c. ^?De jas hangt the coat hangs d. ^?De lamp staat the lamp stands

(Mulder & Wehrmann 1989:115, (23-24))

The examples show that the omission of the prepositional phrase does not necessarily result in the ungrammaticality of the sequence in some cases. While Mulder &

Wehrmann dismiss this complication by assuming that (intransitive) locational verbs may select a small-clause or a noun phrase, the fact is that different argument structures are being realized in each case, which I have previously correlated with the presence of an initiational phrase in the case of the unergative variant. These assumptions can accommodate Mulder & Wehrmann’s data showing that in the latter case these verbs select for a small-clause, as the prepositional phrase may not be left out or extraposed (76-77). Notice that the element appearing as subject is an abstract noun with no physical dimensions. The absence of the prepositional phrase specifying the location leaves out essential information about the predicate if we assume that the type-B meaning of the verb falls short in these examples (see section 4 of this chapter for further discussion).

(76) a. dat het niuws *staat in de krant/in de krant staat that the niews stands in the newspaper

b. dat de humor *ligt op straat/op straat ligt that the humour lies on (the) street

(77) a. *Het niuws staat b. *De humor ligt

(Mulder & Wehrmann 1989:115, (25-26))

To summarize, following the insightful analysis by Hoekstra & Mulder (1990), posture verbs in their simple position sense have been argued to contain a process head and a rhematic prepositional phrase. The existence of a non-eventive predicational structure can account for the particular meanings of this sense in both the so-called co-event use and the ‘light’, or copular, verb use. Finally, in the next section, I discuss the existential use of posture verbs in Dutch as argued by Hoekstra & Mulder (1990) and show how this use may be integrated under the present proposal.