The representation of ISVC in C and F structures of LFG: A proposal

Abstract

Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs) have been analysed in Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) as complex predicates with all the verbs sharing all the arguments in the construction (Bodomo 1997, 2002). In this paper, I argue that the complex predicate analysis amounts to an overgeneralization of the sharing relations that usually characterise the verbs in an SVC, since there are instances where some arguments are not shared. In its place, I propose an analysis in which shared arguments are put into the functional structure of the parent VP so that its properties can be inherited by any verb that shares that argument. Any argument that is not shared will occur with the verb with which it is associated only in the functional structure of that verb.