Complex event nominals in english and spanisha comparative approach

  1. García Mayo, María del Pilar
Revista:
Miscelánea: A journal of english and american studies

ISSN: 1137-6368

Año de publicación: 1994

Número: 15

Páginas: 301-318

Tipo: Artículo

Otras publicaciones en: Miscelánea: A journal of english and american studies

Resumen

Grimshaw (1990) argues that only nouns that refer to what she calls complex events -nouns that have an internal aspectual analysis- have argument structure. She also proposes (following Emonds (1985) that nouns have no direct theta-marking capacity. Thus, argument-taking nouns cannot directly accept arguments because they are defective theta markers; they will only take arguments when they combine with a preposition. This paper analyzes the behavior of complex event nominals in English and Spanish as well as the behavior of CPs within NPs and matters of control in infinitival purpose clauses. We suggest that the relationship between event control and a-structure is not as simple as one could infer from Grimshaw's account of the phenomenon.