Academic literature on the topic 'Gerundive clauses'

This article explores the interface between the syntactic and semantic representation of natural language with respect to the interpretation of time. The main claim of the paper is that the semantic relationship of temporal dependency requires syntactic locality at LF. Based on this claim, I explore the syntax and semantics of gerundive relative clauses. I argue that since gerundive relatives are temporally dependent on the tense of the main clause, they need to be local with a temporal element of the main clause at LF. I show that gerundive relatives receive different temporal interpretations depending on their syntactic position at LF. This analysis sheds light on the behavior of gerundive relatives in constructions involving coordination, existential there, scope of quantificational and cardinality adverbials, extraposition, presuppositionality effects and binding-theoretic reconstruction effects.

This paper gives clear synchronic evidence for the origin of serial verb constructions (SVCs) in Emerillon, a Tupi-Guarani language. SVCs in that language result from a gerundive construction after the loss of both a subordinator and an indexation pattern specific to dependent clauses. After a short review of the general literature on the origins of SVCs and their similarity to converbs (of which Tupi-Guarani gerundives may be considered a subtype), the author gives a detailed account of the Emerillon SVCs. Strong arguments then show that Emerillon serial verbs (superficially comparable to independent verbs) originate from a ‘deranked’ dependent clause. The paper ends with some discussions on clause linkage, comparing more specifically SVCs and converbs on the morphological, syntactic and functional levels.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the structure of gerundive complements when they follow a perception verb in Brazilian Portuguese. It’s shown that these complements are three way ambiguous with a concrete reading of perception verbs, while with a imaginative reading they can only be analyzed as small clauses.

The selectional flexibility of some attitude verbs (e.g. know, realize, report) between declarative and interrogative complements has been the subject of much recent work in formal semantics. However, little attention has been paid to verbs (e.g. see, remember, observe) that embed an even wider variety of complements (incl. subject-controlled gerundive small clauses and concrete object-denoting DPs). Since the familiar types of some of these complements resist an embedding in the type for questions [= sets of propositions], these verbs challenge Theiler, Roelofsen & Aloni’s (2018) uniform interpretation strategy for the complements of responsive verbs. My paper answers this challenge by uniformly interpreting the different complements of selectionally super-flexible verbs like remember in a generalized type for questions, viz. as parametrized centered questions. It shows that the resulting semantics captures the intuitive entailment pattern of these verbs.

SUMMARY The Latin gerundive has three distinctive properties: (i) agreement with thematic object; (ii) ungrammaticality of lexical thematic subject; and (iii) inability to take both a specifier (determiner) and a complement while infinitives can have both. A case- theoretic account within the Minimalist framework of Chomsky (1995) explains all three of these properties at once. The oldest documents in Italic and Latin support the hypothesis that the gerundive is older than the gerund + acc object. The most frequent exception to obligatory agreement into the Classical Period involves a gerundial with multiple objects, where the gender/number mismatch blocked standard agreement. Furthermore, agreement (motivated by gender conflict) with the nearest masculine or neuter D/NP was perceptually equivalent to a gerund + acc object. These two cues, in conjunction with the increase in impersonals in -um and possible word order changes, were deterministic triggers for the Latin change that introduced gerund + acc object. As a parameter setting in Italic, as in West Greenlandic, non-structural case assigned to a clause blocked checking of structural case within. In Italic, this forced the thematic object to raise for case, prompting the erroneous notion that the gerundive is passive, but there is never a change in valence. The (Proto-)Latin change was for PRO to accommodate non- structural case (from a non-overt assigner) to license structural object case checking, whence the gerund with acc object. RÉSUMÉ Le gérondif latin se distingue par trois caractéristiques: (i) son accord avec son objet thématique (ii) le statut non-grammatical de son sujet thématique (iii) l’incapacité de permettre un déterminant ainsi qu’un complément, alor les constructions infinitives peuvent accepter les deux. Un explication tiré de la “cas-théorie” selon le programme minimalist de Chomsky regroupe d’un coup ces trois caractéristiques. Les documents les plus anciens de l’italique et du latin soutiennent l’hypotèse que le gérondif prédate la construction gérond + complément accusatif. Dans l’exception la plus fréquente à concord obligatoire, un gérondial a plusieurs objets et il n’y a pas de concord ordinaire parce que le gendre et le nombre ne s’accordent pas. En ce cas, on trouve le concord avec le NP le plus proche. Une telle situation, avec un accroissement des constructions impersonelles, permet et détermine le changement en latin de la construction avec le gérondif à la construction gérond + complément accusatif. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Das lateinische Gerundiv hat drei charakteristische Eigenschaften: (1) Kongruenz mit dem logischen Objekt; (2) Ungrammatikalität eines lexikalischen Agens-Arguments; und (3) Beschränkung auf entweder einen Specifier oder ein Komplement, im Gegensatz zu den Infinitiven, bei denen die Beiden auftreten können. Eine kasustheoretische Analyse im Rahmen von Chomskys (1995) Minimalistischen Programm erklärt alle drei Eigenschaften. Die ältesten literarischen Quellen zum Italischen und Lateinischen unterstützen die Hypothese, dass das Gerundiv älter ist als das Gerundium mit Akkusativobjekt. Die häufigste Ausnahme von der obligatorischen Kongruenz bis in die klassische Zeit ist die Gerundialkonstruktion mit mehreren Objekten, bei der ein Genus/Numerus-Konflikt die übliche Kongruenz verhinderte. Zudem war die Kongruenz (von widersprüchlichem Genus motiviert) mit der nächstliegenden maskulinen oder neutralen D/NP nicht von einem Gerundium mit Akkusativobjekt zu unterscheiden. Diese beiden Hinweise, zusammen mit der gestiegenen Zahl von unpersönlichen Konstruktionen auf -um und möglichen Änderungen der Wortstellung, waren die entscheidenden Anlässe für die Änderung, die das Gerundium mit Akkusativobjekt hervorbrachte.

This paper examines the history of the ACC-ing gerundive, a subtype of verbal gerund differing formally from both bare gerundives (I enjoyed reading the paper) and POSS-ing gerundives (I was surprised at Jane’s arriving late) in having an overt subject argument either in the common case, if it is a full noun phrase (Two people worrying about each other, with no external diversion, brews a deadly atmosphere) or in the accusative case, if it is a personal pronoun (You can’t prevent me telling the truth). Findings from a corpus-based study show that early instances of ACC-ing gerundives most often functioned as preverbal sentential subjects and served as arguments to causative predicates such as brew, make and oblige. Based on this evidence, it is argued that ACC-ing gerundives have emerged as an intersection of a number of pre-existing constructions, most especially a subtype of absolute participle, now obsolete, that encoded causative (factive) semantics and preceded its superordinate clause. The development of the new gerundive subtype from this participial source, which proceeded as a succession of small discrete steps, can be fruitfully accounted for as a case of constructional change, along the lines proposed in Hilpert (2013) and Traugott & Trousdale (2013).

This paper addresses different problems related to gerund clauses in European Portuguese. In the first part, we analyze from a semantic point of view examples of gerund clauses with compound gerund that occur after the main clause, taking into account parameters such as the rhetorical and temporal relations that are established between the situations denoted by the gerund clauses and the main clauses. The analysis of the data allows us to question the distinction between sentence gerund clauses and coordinate gerund clauses that is proposed in the literature. In the second part of the article, a preliminary analysis of gerund clauses introduced by como with both compound and simple gerund is made, and it is shown that these constructions have peculiarities that make them difficult to catalog within the prevailing typologies.

Abstract The Ottoman gerund in -Ub functions as a conjunctor and designates a unidirectional ‘and’ relation. Sometimes, a second conjunctor like ve, ammâ, lâkin is added after -Ub. Erich Prokosch (Studien zur Grammatik des Osmanisch-Türkischen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Vulgärosmanisch-Türkischen, Freiburg: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1980, pp. 145–46) thought this double clause conjunction to happen only when the subjects (first actants) and/or diatheses are different from one another in the two clauses, i.e. in the basis segment and the gerundial segment. However, in this article, we try to show that in documents (and other Ottoman prose texts), one may also witness a shift of perspective, scene, plot, group of people, or even a total change of topic.

This paper analyzes different types of deverbal -er nominals and factive nominalizations and argues that they can only be fully described and generalized across if, in addition to their ideational properties, the interpersonal categories which they realize are also considered. It is shown that interpersonal functions such as Subject/person deixis, finite/non-finite grounding and the Mood-relation between them are not exclusively clausal categories, but that they are equally operative at word level and in the nominal group. In factive and -er nominalizations, they set us on the track of the systems’ basic grammatico-semantic characteristics: the link which deverbal -er nominalizations establish between an entity and a process turns out to be strikingly similar to that realized by the Subject and the Finite at clause level; the analysis of the internal, interpersonal properties of that-factives, the fact that-constructions and gerundive factives confirms their downranked or ‘nominal’ nature and enables us to define factivity more accurately.

The main topic of this dissertation is a comparison among sentential predicative constructions in the Romance languages. Whereas Pseudo-relative clauses are almost universally used in the Romance domain (with some parametrical differences), predicative gerunds and prepositional infinitives, the other two sentential predicative constructions, are restricted to some varieties. This comparative view, which takes into account both the different Romance varieties and the different constructions, is missing in previous studies on this topic. The aim of my work consists in filling this gap and in comparing these three constructions among them and with respect to the bare infinitive, which has been considered sometimes as another predicative structure like the Pseudo-relative clause. Finally, I will analyse the use of gerundive (and parallel infinitival clauses) in the Ladin varieties, where a highly conservative nature is displayed, as is already shown by the fact that this type of clauses is maintained - within Italy - only in Ladin and in Sardinian. The thesis defended in this dissertation is that Pseudo-Relatives, predicative gerunds and prepositional infinitives are to be all analysed as predicative Small Clauses. Each of these constructions can enter three different syntactical structures, depending on the context, as proposed in Cinque (1992) and as shown by numerous tests. Gerunds and predicative infinitives seem to have a particularly close structural correspondence, the only difference consisting in verb movement: when the verb raises above a phonetically empty position located in CP, the incorporation of the two elements takes place generating the gerundial form. When the verb cannot move to the preposition, the result is a prepositional infinitive, the preposition a being realised. This analysis does not hold for the Ladin data, though, because the gerunds and the prepositional infinitives of these varieties show some differences with respect to the corresponding constructions in the other Romance varieties. This peculiar behavior in Ladin exactly matches the one observed in bare infinitive clauses with perception verbs. Therefore, I hypothesize that Ladin gerunds and prepositional infinitives enter the so-called 'ECM' structure, like the bare infinitives of the main Romance languages. This dissertation is relevant for the comparative Romance research field, where a comparison among different predicative constructions has never been proposed before. Moreover, I show that Ladin varieties are also syntactically conservative. Further interesting points for future research can be found in a new analysis of the gerunds (not only the predicative ones) as the result of an incorporation process involving both a non-finite verb and a zero preposition. Finally, my account reveals that the traditional analysis interpreting the Romance bare infinitives as ECM structures cannot account for all the characteristics of this construction in the Romance languages.
L'argomento di questa tesi è un confronto tra i costrutti predicativi di tipo frasale nelle diverse varietà romanze. Mentre le pseudorelative sono diffuse pressoché in tutta la Romània, con qualche variazione parametrica minore, i gerundi predicativi e gli infiniti preposizionali sono usati solo in alcune varietà. Negli studi linguistici sull'argomento è mancata finora l'ottica comparativa, sia tra varietà diverse, sia tra costrutti predicativi diversi. Il mio lavoro si prefissa lo scopo di colmare questa lacuna, senza ignorare però i costrutti percettivi composti da un infinito semplice, che da parte della letteratura sono stati paragonati alle strutture predicative delle pseudorelative. Infine, tratterò anche dei gerundi e infiniti preposizionali delle varietà ladine: si tratta di un uso conservativo, perché nelle varietà italoromanze attigue quest'uso si è perso molto tempo fa. Questo lavoro si propone di analizzare le pseudorelative, i gerundi predicativi e gli infiniti preposizionali come Frasi Ridotte con funzione predicativa; questi costrutti possono avere tre strutture sintattiche diverse, a seconda dei contesti in cui sono inseriti, come propone Cinque (1992) e come è dimostrato da numerosi test. La corrispondenza strutturale è particolarmente stretta tra i gerundi e gli infiniti preposizionali: l'unica differenza è data dal movimento del verbo, che nelle gerundive sale alla sinistra di una preposizione foneticamente nulla, che si incorpora nel verbo dando origine alla forma del gerundio; quando il verbo non può muoversi fino alla preposizione, invece, si ha un infinito dove la preposizione è realizzata. Da questo quadro sono esclusi però i gerundi e infiniti preposizionali del ladino, che presentano una serie di tratti divergenti rispetto ai corrispondenti costrutti delle altre varietà: queste divergenze li accomunano invece agli infiniti semplici dei costrutti percettivi. Per questo motivo, propongo che in queste varietà i costrutti siano delle strutture definite tradizionalmente 'ECM', come gli infiniti semplici. Le conclusioni a cui giungo in questa tesi sono di interesse per la ricerca romanistica comparativa, dove non si è mai proposto un confronto tra i vari costrutti predicativi. Inoltre, questo lavoro offre degli argomenti aggiuntivi per mostrare come le varietà ladine delle Dolomiti siano anche sintatticamente conservative. Ulteriori spunti interessanti, in vista di possibili sviluppi futuri, sono forniti dall'analisi – inedita all'interno del modello generativista – dei gerundi (non solo predicativi) come infiniti che incorporano una preposizione, e dal comportamento degli infiniti semplici, la cui struttura andrebbe rianalizzata scartando l'analisi tradizionale di tipo ECM, che non appare adeguata per cogliere tutte le caratteristiche dei costrutti infinitivi romanzi.

Nesta dissertação, investigo orações de gerúndio (OG) em português brasileiro, orações não-finitas em que o verbo está no gerúndio. OGs podem ocorrer numa série de ambientes sintáticos diferentes. Elas podem ser argumentais ou não. Quando argumentais, elas podem ser selecionadas por diferentes predicados, tanto como sujeito quanto como complemento. Quando elas são não-argumentais, as OGs podem ser adjuntos tanto de elementos nominais como verbais. Quando elas são adjuntos verbais, elas podem se adjungir a diferentes porções da estrutura. Não obstante essa diversidade, tento analisar as OGs de maneira unificada. A proposta central é que existem três classes de OG, sendo que elas diferem na composição estrutural. De um lado, haveria a estrutura mais simples de OG, um AspP. Proponho que AspP seja nucleado pelo morfema de gerúndio, já que esse morfema parece contribuir com aspecto progressivo para o significado da oração. De outro lado, a estrutura mais complexa de OG é CP, que domina TP, que, por sua vez, domina o AspP mínimo. Entre esses dois extremos, haveria OGs que projetam não apenas AspP, mas também TP, mas sem projetar CP. As OGs mais complexas serão denominadas classe 1, as OGs intermediárias, classe 2 e as OGs de estrutura mínima, classe 3. Todas as OGs vão ser submetidas a essa classificação tripartite. Ela vai permitir que se capture o comportamento individual de cada subtipo de OG e, ao mesmo tempo, o modo como as três classes propostas se agrupam em relação a uma série de propriedades sintáticas. Entre essas propriedades, há as que analiso como sendo dependentes de TP, a saber, licenciamento de advérbio e de negação sentenciais. OGs de classe 1 de classe 2 apresentam o mesmo comportamento em relação a essas propriedades, o que é capturado pela presença de TP na estrutura das duas. OGs de classe 3 se distinguem delas em relação a essas propriedade, o que é capturado pela ausência de TP na sua estrutura. O outro grande grupo de propriedades considerado são as que atrelo à noção de fase. Proponho que esse conceito exerce um papel unificador e simplificador na sintaxe. Mais precisamente, proponho que tanto operações como relações sintáticas são definidas em termos de fase. Assim, os domínios sintáticos em que ocorrem fenômenos sintáticos tão diversos como valoração de traços, ligação e alçamento de quantificador são todos uma fase. Quanto a essas propriedades, são as OGs de classe 2 e de classe 3 que se agrupam, vi para a exclusão da classe 1. Isso acontece porque a projeção mais alta das OGs de classe 2 e de classe 3 (AspP e TP, respectivamente) não é uma fase, enquanto a projeção mais alta de OGs de classe 1 (CP) é uma fase. Tento derivar as propriedades do comportamento individual de cada OG e o modo como as três classes propostas se organizam entre si da computação sintática delas. Para isso, delineio um sistema computacional que pretendo que seja geral, com base em hipóteses minimalistas sobre a faculdade da linguagem. A partir desse sistema geral, derivo ainda propriedades de controle (ou ausência de) em certas OGs e algumas propriedades temporais encontradas nessas construções não-finitas.
In this dissertation, I investigate gerund clauses (GC) in Brazilian Portuguese, nonfinite clauses the verb of which is in gerund form, fndog. GCs can show up in a series of different syntactic environments. They can be selected by different predicates, both as subjects and as complements. When they are not thematic, GCs can be adjoined both to nominal and to verbal elements. When they are verbal adjuncts, they can be attached to different portions of the structure. Despite this diversity, I try to analyze GCs in unified fashion. The main proposal I put forth is that there are three classes of GCs, such that they differ in structural make-up. On one end of the scale are GCs that project only the bare minimum to build a GC at all, namely, an AspP. I claim that the gerund morpheme heads this phrase because it seems to contribute aspectual meaning to the overall sentence. On the other end of the scale are the GCs that project the most complex structure, a CP that dominates a TP, which in turn dominates the minimal AspP. Between these two ends are GCs of intermediate size, a TP. For convenience, the most structurally complex GCs are dubbed class 1, the intermediate GCs, class 2 and the smallest GCs, class 3. All GC subtypes will undergo this tripartite analysis. It will allow us to capture their individual behavior, as well as the way the classes are grouped together along a series of syntactic properties. Some of these properties, I analyze as TP-dependent, namely, sentential negation and sentential adverbial licensing. As far as these properties are concerned, class 1 and class 2 GCs behave alike. This is captured by the presence of TP in their structure. Class 3 GCs are different from both and this is captured by the absence of TP in their structure. The remaining properties are the ones I propose to be phase-based. The proposal is that this concept plays a unifying role in syntax, allowing it to be simpler. Specifically, I propose that both syntactic operations and relations are phase-dependent. Thus, phenomena as diverse as feature valuation, binding and quantifier raising are unified in that their domain is a phase. Now it is class 2 and class 3 GCs that behave alike, to the exclusion of class 1 GCs. The topmost projection of class 2 GCs is TP, while that of class 3 GCs, an AspP. Neither of them is a phase. On the other hand, the topmost projection of class 1 GCs is CP, a phase. I try to derive the characteristic behavior of each GC subtype and the way the classes proposed are clustered together from their syntactic computation. To this end, based on minimalist assumptions, I outline the way I take the computational system to work. The same system will be an important asset in accounting for the control properties (or lack thereof) in certain GC subtypes and for the temporal properties of these nonfinite constructions.

碩士
國立彰化師範大學
英語學系
87
In the traditional Government and Binding framework, PRO is regarded as ungoverned and should only appear in Caseless positions. However, Chomsky and Lasnik (1993) propose that PRO is always marked for null Case, which is checked via Sped-Head Agreement with non-finite INFL. Boskovic (1996) also argues that this Case-theoretic account of PRO is empirically superior to traditional binding-theoretic account in illustrating the distribution of PRO in infinitival complementation. Following Martin (1992), Boskovic argues that only [+Tense] non-finite INFL can check null Case, not what Chomsky and Lasnik (1993) propose that every non-finite INFL has the ability to check null Case. My thesis here attempts to adopt the Case-theoretic account of PRO into gerundive clauses, and I argue that non-finite INFL, but not just [+Tense] non-finite INFL is more appropriate for explaining the distribution of PRO in gerundive clauses. Moreover, Lasnik and Saito's proposal (1991) that ECM NP in the subject of an embedded infinitival must move to a position in the matrix clause before S-structure is adopted for explicating the Case-checking in ECM constructions. I also analyze the Case-checking in perception verb constructions in the same way as in ECM constructions. And this principled account of Case-checking, based on the Case Theory and Last Resort Condition, brings two natural consequences about the categorial status of gerundive complements (i.e., a CP or an IP) and the properties of PRO (i.e., [+anaphoric] or [+pronominal])?

The Translation Technique from Latin to Old Church Slavonic on the Basis of Gumpold's Legend and the Second Old Church Slavonic Life of Saint Wenceslas Kateřina Spurná Summary This dissertation analyses the translation technique from Latin to Old Church Slavonic on the basis of Gumpold's Legend (Gump) from the end of the 10th century and its translation, the Second Old Church Slavonic Life of Saint Wenceslas (VencNik), which was written in early Přemyslid Bohemia probably in the second half of the 11th century. The introductory chapters provide the basic characteristics of the Gump and deal with its preservation in manuscripts and other Latin and Old Church Slavonic legends of St Wenceslas. Afterwards, attention is focused on the analysis of the VencNik, its preservation in manuscripts of Russian provenance and the basic phonetic and morphological characteristics of the text. These chapters are followed by a new edition of the VencNik, in which the Old Church Slavonic text is presented in the form actually preserved in manuscripts (unlike the earlier edition of Josef Vašica from 1929, who tried to reconstruct the original version), and compared with the partly revised and supplemented edition of the Gump. The edition of the Old Church Slavonic text is followed by a brief chapter on the biblical quotations...

The thesis discusses the expressions of cause in Spanish and presents an analysis of the linguistics theme based on the Spanish legal texts. The fundamental aims of the thesis are to find the expressions of cause in the Spanish legal texts and to analyse it. The thesis is divided in the theoretical and the practical part. The theoretical part is focused on the linguistics characteristics of the legal texts and on the characteristics of the expressions of cause. The practical part presents an analysis of the expressions of cause based on one thousand of examples found in Spanish legal texts. The summary in Spanish is included.

It is generally known that gerunds can have a null subject (NS) that takes the preceding clause as its antecedent. Given certain restrictions independently argued for in the literature, the NS in question cannot be pro, neither can it be maintained that such gerunds have the status of relative clauses. Therefore, the subject in question must be analysed as PRO, which entails that the theoretical status of such a category must be recognized in a theory of syntax. Regardless of whether the case of Clausal Control is to be understood as Non Obligatory Control or Obligatory Control, the data present a serious problem for Hornstein’s (1999) reductionist approach to Control and subsequent work in the same spirit. If the phenomenon of Clausal Control is an instance of Obligatory Control, an analysis formulated in terms of A-binding is a feasible alternative as discussed here.

Abstract This book is devoted to verbal nouns, defined as nouns which have a systematic correspondence with a clause structure. The book aims to contribute to the much-debated question of ‘abstract nouns’ in general and ‘verbal derivatives’ in particular by showing that syntactic parameters are useful for a better classification of what are traditionally called nomina actionis. It adopts a descriptive approach and it provides methods and criteria for identifying these nouns which retain some verbal properties and for distinguishing them from nouns with concrete reference. This distinction is important for a better understanding of Latin texts and for the presentation of these words in dictionaries. The book investigates the use of verbal nouns in various text types: narrative texts and technical treatises (rhetoric, architecture, and legal texts). It shows that verbal nouns, as well as gerunds, gerundives, participles in participial clauses, and also, partly, infinitives, are competing expressions with a low ‘sententiality’ that serve, to different extents, to condensate clausal expressions. They form a system in which the elements are partly overlapping and partly complementary. The fact that Latin does not have a verbal noun available for every verb should not be viewed as a ‘deficiency’, but as a facet of this complex system.

Chapter 16 deals with subordinate clauses, both finite and non-finite, which function as satellites in their sentence (traditionally called adverbial clauses). The finite clauses with a subordinator are discussed according to their semantic function, e.g. reason, purpose, and condition. The non-finite clauses are discussed according to morphological type: infinitives, participles (including ablative absolute clauses), gerunds, gerundives, supines, and nominal clauses.

Chapter 15 deals with subordinate clauses, both finite and non-finite, which function as argument of their governing verb (traditionally called complement clauses). A distinction is made between declarative, interrogative, and imperative subordinate clauses. They are discussed according to the various subordinating devices: subordinators (e.g. quod, ut), question particles, infinitives (including accusative and infinitive clauses), gerunds, gerundives, and nominal clauses.

Abstract Chapter 5 discusses competitors of verbal nouns: gerunds and gerundives, participles, and infinitives, in order to determine which properties they share with verbal nouns, in which contexts they are interchangeable, and what restrictions apply to their use. Gerunds and gerundives are largely interchangeable with verbal nouns, especially in the ablative and the prepositional accusative with the semantic functions of means and purpose adjuncts. Competition between gerunds, gerundives, and verbal nouns is strongest at the noun phrase level. They are used in similar contexts, but gerunds and gerundives allow a greater complexity than verbal nouns. The gerunds and gerundives compensate for the lack of verbal nouns only in the case of semantically weak verbs, verbs that do not form verbal nouns, and strongly polysemous verbs. Participial clauses, which situate an action in time, compete with verbal nouns in the functions of subject, object, and adjuncts of means.

Abstract In this book it is argued that verbal nouns, defined as nouns that have a correspondence with a clause structure, retain some verbal properties, namely expression or implication of arguments (obligatory constituents), inherent temporality or relationship with time, and voice value. They must be distinguished from the use of these nouns with concrete reference because they behave in a different way. Functions fulfilled by verbal nouns are examined in various text types (narrative texts, treatises on rhetoric and architecture, and legal texts). The distinction between a verbal meaning and a concrete meaning is especially important in technical treatises. Verbal nouns compete with non-finite verb forms (gerunds, gerundives, participial clauses, and infinitives). Their interchangeability can be observed in particular at the noun phrase level.

It is usually assumed that the causee ‘subject’ of a causativized transitive predicate merges below the causativizer, within the causativized clause. However, gerundive nominalizations (masdars) in Georgian provide evidence for a different structure. It is proposed that, in Georgian, this causee is projected by an applicative phrase that merges outside the causative vP, below the Voice projection that introduces the causer/external argument. Key evidence involves masdars in which causative meaning can be expressed, but a causee cannot. While the causee of a causativized transitive predicate can be expressed in a verbal context, it cannot be expressed in a masdar, even though the masdar can be based on a causative of a transitive. It is proposed that the Georgian masdar involves a nominalizing head that selects a vP complement, and that both causers and causees are excluded from the masdar because they can only merge outside this causative vP.

Abstract This chapter discusses various approaches to nominalization and defines it as ‘a noun (phrase) which has a systematic correspondence with a clause structure’. Such nouns are called ‘verbal nouns’. Verbal nouns lack sentential properties. They are compared with non-finite verb forms (participles, infinitives, gerunds, and gerundives), which show a lack of sentential properties (desententialization) to various extents. It is argued that verbal nouns retain some verbal properties, especially the requirement of arguments or obligatory constituents and aspectual (lexical) properties of the corresponding verbs. On the basis of their combinability with temporal expressions, four classes of verbal nouns can be distinguished expressing activities, accomplishments, achievements, or states. Many verbal nouns are polysemous: they can be used as verbal nouns with a verbal meaning, or as nouns with a concrete meaning to denote physical entities.

The concluding chapter synthesizes the results of the preceding analyses. It highlights that the most important functional-semantic categorial shift that has taken place within the English gerundive system did not affect the morphosyntactically verbalizing component; instead, it affected the “original” nominal gerund, which started to functionally assimilate to more prototypical members of the nominal class. It is explained that in earlier stages, the English gerund exhibited functional hybridity, using an exclusively nominal form to realize more nominal as well as more clausal functions; but with the rise of the verbalized gerund, this functional hybridity started to be gradually sorted out. What emerges from the discussions of the case studies is that adopting a model of functional-semantic categoriality allows one to tackle the remaining lacunae in understanding this history of the English gerund, and perhaps, in the not-so-distant future, of “categoriality in language change” more generally.