Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T23:31:05.090Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

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
Get access

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Selected References

Adams, J. N. (2013). Social Variation and the Latin Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cardinaletti, A. and Shlonsky, U. (2004). ‘Clitic positions and restructuring in Italian’, Linguistic Inquiry 35: 519–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cennamo, M. (2016). ‘Voice’. In Ledgeway, A. and Maiden, M. (eds), The Oxford Guide to the Romance Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 967–80.Google Scholar
Cinque, G. (2004). ‘Restructuring and functional structure’. In Belletti, A. (ed.), Structures and Beyond: The Cartography of Syntactic Structures, III. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 132–91.Google Scholar
Ledgeway, A. (2021a). ‘Passive periphrases in the Romance Languages’. In Gardani, F. and Loporcaro, M. (eds), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Romance Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.639.Google Scholar
Monachesi, P. (2005). The Verbal Complex in Romance: A Case Study in Grammatical Interfaces. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rizzi, L. (1978). ‘A restructuring rule in Italian syntax’. In Keyser, S. J. (ed.), Recent Transformational Studies in European Languages. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 113–58.Google Scholar
Roberts, I. (2013). ‘Some speculations on the development of the Romance periphrastic perfect’. Revue roumaine de linguistique 58: 3–30.Google Scholar
Salvi, G. (1987). ‘Syntactic restructuring in the evolution of Romance auxiliaries’. In Harris, M. and Ramat, P. (eds), Historical Development of Auxiliaries. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 225–36.Google Scholar
Sheehan, M. (2016). ‘Complex predicates’. In Ledgeway, A. and Maiden, M. (eds), The Oxford Guide to the Romance Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 981–93.Google Scholar
Svenonius, P. (2008). ‘Complex predicates and the functional sequence’, Tromsø Working Papers on Language and Linguistics: Nordlyd 35: 47–88.Google Scholar
Vincent, N. (1987). ‘The interaction of periphrasis and inflection: some Romance examples’. In Harris, M. and Ramat, P. (eds), Historical Development of Auxiliaries. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 237–56.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×