Mixed categories in the hierarchical lexicon

Abstract

Grammatical categories are central to generative theories of grammar. However, despite their importance, relatively little attention has been paid to investigating their essential nature. It is typically assumed that there is a small number of primitive, probably universal, probably innate grammatical categories. Under this view of categories it is difficult to account for mixed categories, which show properties of more than one category simultaneously. One kind of mixed category construction, the English verbal gerund (e.g., Kim's watching television or Chris giving Pat the book ), much like similar constructions in many other languages, seems to be neither a noun nor a verb but a mix of both. Specifically, verbal gerund phrases have four basic properties that need to be accounted for: (i) the gerund plus its complements have the internal distribution of a VP; (ii) verbal gerunds are modified by adverbs, not adjectives; (iii) the optional subject of the gerund can be either a genitive or...

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