Angelika Wöllstein-Leisten & Axel Heilmann
The Syntax-Semantics Interface
Conditions for Infinitival Complementation
Arbeitspapiere des SFB 340, Bericht Nr. 104 (1997), 23pp.
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Abstract
There is a common syntactic construction in West Germanic languages, the
so-called 'coherent' infinitive. This construction
is an alternative to sentential infinitival constructions.
While with non-coherent infinitival complements we have two distinct
argument structures, with coherent infinitives these argument structures are
unified rendering a monosentential construction.
Although the syntactic conditions for the occurrence of coherent constructions are
clear, there are verbs matching all these syntactic conditions but yet they
don't allow coherent constructions.
In this paper we are working out some semantic condition ruling out
the occurrence of coherent infinitives with a subclass of verbs.
These verbs presuppose their infinitival complement, a fact which obviously
entails the necessity for a full sentential representation of the
complement.
Seminar für Sprachwissenschaft
Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen
Wilhelmstraße 113
72074 Tübingen
Germany
woellste@ims.uni-stuttgart.de
heilmann@ims.uni-stuttgart.de