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19 - Complex Predicates

from Part Four - Syntax

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2022

By
Adina Dragomirescu ,
Alexandru Nicolae  and
Gabriela Pană Dindelegan
Edited by
Adam Ledgeway  and
Martin Maiden
Adam Ledgeway
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Martin Maiden
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

After reviewing the different meanings attributed to the concept ‘complex predicate’, a set of syntactic diagnostics for the identification of a complex predicated is established. This set of diagnostics is then discussed in relation to modern and old Romance structures such as: (i) auxiliary constructions (with habere, esse, and other verbs), most of which emerged in the passage from Latin to Romance, and their Tense-Mood-Aspect make-up; (ii) the periphrastic passive compared to the reflexive passive (with special reference to past participle agreement, the inventory of passive auxiliaries, the double passive, and the ordering of elements in the passive cluster); (iii) aspectual auxiliaries; (iv) modal complex predicates; (v) causative complex predicates; and (vi) complex predicates headed by perception verbs. Putting aside the various meanings associated with the concept ‘complex predicate’ and the enormous variety of the syntactic structures which to varying degress satisfy the complex predicate diagnostics, this chapter seeks an answer to the deeper question of how the Romance languages are theoretically and empirically relevant for a better understanding of complex predicates.

Keywords

complex predicate, auxiliary, passive, aspectual periphrasis, causative construction, modal verb, perception verb, monoclausality, negation, clitic climbing
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Romance Linguistics , pp. 571 - 603
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

Selected References

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