German Particle Verbs and the Predicate Complex
Author: Stefan Müller
Subject Areas: German Syntax, Predicate Complex, HPSG
In Ronnie Cann, Claire Grover und Philip Miller (Eds), 2000: Grammatical Interfaces in HPSG, Studies in Constraint-Based Lexicalism. Stanford: CSLI-Publications, pages 215–229.
In the paper I argue that separable verbs in German behave like other elements in the predicate complex. This view is supported by the following facts: Particles are serialized like verbal or predicative adjectival complements in the right sentence bracket (the right periphery of a clause that does not contain extraposed elements), they can be fronted as can be done with single verbs or predicative adjectives. If particles are analyzed as part of the predicate complex, the fronting data can be accounted for as an instance of complex fronting (Partial Verb Phrase Fronting (PVP)). The inability of particles and predicates in resultative constructions to co-occur and the non-iterability of particles will be explained by the fact that particles and resultative predicates occupy a designated valance position that does not allow more than one particle or resultative predicate.
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