ABSTRACT

In many languages of northern Australia with coverb constructions, it is difficult to draw a distinction between predication and adverbial modification because coverbs appear to be both predicates and modifiers. We present evidence from Wagiman that a distinction between predication and modification can be drawn syntactically. We argue that Wagiman has two necessarily predicational positions and at least one adverbial position. One predicational position is obligatorily filled by the inflecting verb, the second can be filled by a coverb when it has a predicative function. The merger of this predicational coverb and the verb results in a complex predicate. A coverb can also be located in the adverbial position when it modifies the predicate. Using the minimalist framework, we test our proposal when two coverbs appear in the same clause, one adverbial and one predicational. This analysis has wider typological implications. We demonstrate that the novel adverbial analysis for clauses with two coverbs is also supported for other languages in the region.

摘要

在澳大利亚北部的许多具有coverb 结构的语言中，很难区分谓词和状语修饰，因为coverb 似乎既是谓词又是修饰语。我们提供了来自 Wagiman 的证据，表明可以在句法上区分谓词和修饰。我们认为 Wagiman 有两个必然的谓词位置和至少一个状语位置。一个谓语位置必须由屈折动词填充，第二个具有谓语功能时可以由一个coverb填充。这个谓语coverb 和动词的合并产生了一个复杂的谓词。在修饰谓词时，coverb 也可以位于状语位置。使用极简框架，当两个coverb出现在同一个子句中时，我们测试我们的提议，一个是状语，一个是谓语。这种分析具有更广泛的类型学含义。我们证明了该地区其他语言也支持对具有两个覆盖词的子句进行新颖的状语分析。