Two Types of Small Clauses and Manner/Result Verb Classes

抄録

It has been observed that verbs can be divided into manner and result verbs. Manner verbs denote manners of action of an agent, whereas result verbs designate a change of state or location of an object. This paper investigates how the manner/result verb distinction is associated with the (un) availability of a non-subcategorized object NP from the perspective of event structures. We follow the traditional assumption that such non-subcategorized object NPs are licensed by small clauses and propose that they can be divided into at least two types: resultative small clauses and co-extensive small clauses. The former denotes a result event brought about by the verbal event, whereas the latter serves to further specify the verbal event. Manner verbs can take both types of small clauses. Result verbs, on the other hand, permit only the latter due to an event structural restriction. This explains the kinds of object NPs that result verbs can take. This paper also shows that a co-extensive small clause analysis can be assigned to various verb classes, including manner verbs such as hit verbs, wipe verbs, push verbs, and throw verbs and result verbs such as break verbs, cut verbs, pierce verbs, and clear verbs.