Four Faces of Up as a Functional Particle

Abstract

The main claim of this paper is that the particle up in an English two-word verb is a function word compensating for or equivalent to a portion of a cognitively synonymous verb phrase to which the two- word verb corresponds. This portion may be a (direct- object) noun phrase, an adverbial phrase, a derivational marker, a verb- internal element or a combination of two or more of these. The particle thus often turns out to be anything but adverbial, which runs counter to its traditional characterization as an adverbial. Another major byproduct of this paper is the light it apparently sheds on the underlying meaning of the particle under discussion.