The structure of the English verb-particle combination

Abstract

A key issue in analysing the present-day English verb-particle combination is its syntactic properties on the one hand and its morphological makeup on the other. The particle's syntactic independence exemplified in the word order alternation conflicts with the word formation properties of the construction. As part of my research project on the historical development of the English verb-particle combination I am working on an analysis of this construction, both synchronically and diachronically. The main purpose of my talk will be to present a synchronic analysis of the present-day English verb-particle combination, paying attention to both the structure of particles (which I claim are predicates) and particle verbs. Taking the predicate status of particles as a starting point, I propose a Hale & Keyser (1993) style analysis in which the light verb projection is extended to the PP-domain. I show that particles are unergative P elements and can thus be argued to have a functional pP layer (by analogy with vP in the VP domain), which is contra Zeller's (2001) claim that particles lack a functional layer because they are unaccusative. The functional pP layer licenses the subject argument of the particle (a secondary predicate in my analysis). In my analysis, the (resultative) lexical semantics of particle verbs is reflected in syntactic structure. In my discussion of the derivation of the two word orders, I will explore Dehé's (2002) claim that the alternation displays a difference in information structural properties. This refutes the often adopted claim that the two word orders are functionally equivalent, which is used in support of a derivational account (in generative analyses). I will pay attention to the matter of a derivational or a nonderivational approach of the word order alternation (this is very much work in progress). I will also briefly touch on the diachronic development of the verb-particle combination. The paradoxical situation of present-day English contrasts with that in the Old English period (ca.850-1150) in which particles are clearly syntactically independent elements. The present-day English word order alternation becomes firmly established in the Middle English period (ca.1150-1420) after the changeover to postverbal particles (described at length by Hiltunen 1983). Of special importance is the sudden rise of the verb-particle-object order in early Middle English. I discuss the possibility that this pattern was introduced as a novel structure and was not (initially) derived from the verb-object-particle order.

References Dehé, N. (2002). Particle Verbs in English: Syntax, Information Structure, and Intonation. Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 59, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Hale, K. and S.J. Keyser (1993). On argument structure and the lexical expression of syntactic relations. In: K. Hale & S.J. Keyser (Eds.), The View from Building Twenty, pp. 53-109 Cambridge: MIT Press. Hiltunen, R. (1983). The decline of the prefixes and the beginnings of the English phrasal verb: The evidence from some Old and Middle English texts (Annales Universitatis Turkuensis, Series B, 160). Turun Yliopisto (University of Turku, Finland), Turku. Zeller, J. (2001). Particle Verbs and Local Domains. Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 41, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.