Approaches to Complex Predicates

Book excerpt: Complex predicates can be loosely defined as a sequence of items that behave as a single predicate, projecting a single argument structure within a clause. Each of the members of the predicate contributes part of the information ordinarily associated with a single head. The present volume presents a collection of theoretical linguistic results on the study of complex predicates in different perspectives and with a variety of approaches. Important empirical and theoretical issues cutting across various subfields of linguistics are being addressed in this book, such as: • Syntactic and semantic modeling of complex predicate formation: compositionality, argument structure, event structure. • Differences between syntactic and morphological processes of lexeme formation. • Typological and diachronic issues in complex predicate formation. • Neo-Davidsonian analyses of abstract predicate decomposition and its morphological correlates. Contributors are: Ane Berro, Denis Creissels, Hannah Gibson, Adele Goldberg, Lutz Marten, Annie Montaut, Léa Nash, Pooja Paul, Pollet Samvelian, Peter Svenonius, and Susanne Wurmbrand.