Article published in:
Studies in Language
Vol. 41:1 (2017) ► pp. 142–197

The macro-event property and the layered structure of the clause

| University at Buffalo - The State University of New York
| Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
We ask whether there is a “macro-event phrase,” a uniform level of syntax at which complex scenarios may be described as single events under the Macro-Event Property (MEP). The MEP is a form-meaning mapping property that constrains the compatibility of event descriptions with time-positional modifiers. An examination of English infinitival complements, Ewe serial verb constructions, and Japanese converb constructions suggests that the putative crosslinguistic “macro-event phrase” is the verbal core of the Layered Structure of the Clause theory of Role and Reference Grammar. Across languages, simple cores necessarily have the MEP, whereas complex cores have it if and only if they are integrated by ‘cosubordinate’ nexus, defined as a symmetric union of two cores that together behave like a single core. We furthermore argue that this connection between core cosubordinations and the MEP may help explain why cosubordinate cores seem to always share an argument through control.
Keywords: event representation, macro-event property, verbal core, layered structure of the clause, role and reference grammar, control, juncture, nexus, cosubordination, Ewe, Japanese, English, converb constructions, serial verb constructions, infinitival complements
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The Macro-Event Property
  • 3.The Layered Structure of the Clause
  • 4.The Core-MEP Hypothesis
  • 5.Single-core constructions
  • 6.Multi-core constructions
    • 6.1English: infinitival complements
    • 6.2Ewe: serial verb constructions
    • 6.3Japanese: Converb constructions
    • 6.4Interim summary
  • 7.Linking properties of multi-core constructions
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References


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Published online: 01 June 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.41.1.05van
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