An HPSG Account of Depictive Secondary Predicates and Free Adjunct : A Problem for the Adjunct-as-Complements Approach

Abstract

English depictive secondary predicates and free adjuncts share many essential properties in that they are both participant-oriented modifiers. However, they exhibit several differences when scope of negation, sentential position, and choice of the subject are concerned. The main argument of this paper is that treating both depictives and free adjuncts as complements, as in the Adjuncts-as-Complements approach, does not adequately account for the differences between depictives and free adjuncts. I propose that depictives are like typical postverbal adverbials that project in a head-complement structure, but that free adjuncts attach to a higher projection(VP). This difference accounts for the scope differences. The analysis of the choice of the subject follows Müllers(2004, 2008) proposal, although I assume a different structure in that depictives are complements.