Complex Predicates and Multidimensionality in Grammar

LiLT volume 17, issue (4) February 2019 Complex Predicates and Multidimensionality in Grammar Miriam Butt, University of Konstanz Abstract This paper contributes to the on-going discussion of how best to analyze and handle complex predicate formations, commenting in particular on the properties of Hindi N-V complex predicates as set out by Vaidya et al. (2019). I highlight features of existing LFG analyses and focus in particular on the modular architecture of LFG, its attendant mul- tidimensional lexicon and the analytic consequences which follow from this. I point out where the previously existing LFG proposals have been misunderstood as viewed from the lens of theories such as LTAG and HPSG, which assume a very different architectural set-up and provide a comparative discussion of the issues. 1 Introduction Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG) is a theory that posits several dif- ferent types of linguistic representations, each with their own logical structure and vocabulary. This architectural choice reflects the realiza- tion that different parts of the grammar are of different mathematical complexity and encode different types of information. Within syntax, LFG posits two different types of structure: the c(onstituent)-structure encodes information about constituency, linear order and the hierar- chical organization of constituents. The f(unctional)-structure, on the other hand, encodes dependency type of information, for example of a predicate and its arguments, specifiers and modifiers (Bresnan, 2001, Dalrymple, 2001, Butt and King, 2015). The syntax interacts with further components of grammar, such as the a(rgument)-structure, which encodes predicate-argument relations 1 2 / LiLT volume 17, issue (4) February 2019 at the lexical semantic level, or the s(emantic)-structure, which encom- passes clausal semantics and must, of course, also itself interact with a-structure. These interactions are accomplished via LFG’s mathemat- ically well-defined projection architecture. The multidimensional architecture of LFG predisposes it to be pre- pared for mismatches across linguistic representations. Complex pred- icates have been demonstrated to involve a challenging mismatch be- tween a(rgument)-structure and syntax and it is thus perhaps no acci- dent that very detailed formal treatments of complex predicates across a range of languages have been formulated especially within LFG (Alsina et al., 1997, Wilson, 1999, Butt, 2010). These formal treatments also included a clear differentiation of complex predicates from auxiliation and control constructures (Seiss, 2009). The LFG analysis of complex predicates crucially includes a notion of argument structure composition, by which a complex, bi- or mul- ticlausal a-structure corresponds to a monoclausal f-structure. Alsina (1996), Mohanan (1994) and Butt (1995) demonstrated that this ar- gument structure composition must be mediated by the syntax as the parts of a complex predicate can be distributed across the clause and do not necessarily have to be adjacent to one another. This stands in con- trast to the initial formulation of the relationship between a-structure and f-structure, which saw the mapping from thematic roles to gram- matical functions as being accomplished only within the lexicon. Once it was established the the mapping between a-structure and f-structure needed to be mediated via the syntax, the theory was extended to …

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