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Perception verb complements in Akatek, a Mayan language

Perception verb complements in Akatek, a Mayan language

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1. INTRODUCTION 53<br />

b. Isaw Mary while she was enter<strong>in</strong>g.<br />

Higg<strong>in</strong>botham (1994a), 33<br />

(19) Rover heard [it thunder<strong>in</strong>g]. (does not entail Rover heard `it'.)<br />

Kirsner & Thompson (1976), 210<br />

Many ACC-<strong>in</strong>g constructions are ambiguous between two or all<br />

three of the above subtypes. For example, the gerund <strong>in</strong> (20) can either<br />

mean the moon which was ris<strong>in</strong>g over the mounta<strong>in</strong> if <strong>in</strong>terpreted as a<br />

reduced relative clause, or the moon as it was ris<strong>in</strong>g over the mounta<strong>in</strong><br />

(adjunct clause), or the perceptual read<strong>in</strong>g (i.e. as <strong>in</strong>g-PVC) the event<br />

of the moon's ris<strong>in</strong>g over the mounta<strong>in</strong>.<br />

(20) Isaw the moon ris<strong>in</strong>g over the mounta<strong>in</strong>.<br />

Declerck (1982b), 2<br />

Similarly, a sentence with an ACC-<strong>in</strong>g construction like (21-a) can<br />

either be the progressive counterpart of the NI-PVC <strong>in</strong> (21-b) or receive<br />

the adjunct read<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> (21-c).<br />

(21) a. Isaw him cross<strong>in</strong>g the street.<br />

b. Isaw him cross the street.<br />

c. Isaw him while (or when) he was cross<strong>in</strong>g the street.<br />

Vendler (1968), 58<br />

While pseudo-modi ers and adjuncts cannot alternate or be conjo<strong>in</strong>ed<br />

with NI-PVCs, <strong>in</strong>g-PVCs are the progressive counterparts of NI-PVCs<br />

and therefore can alternate or be conjo<strong>in</strong>ed with them:<br />

(22) We heard the farmer slaughter/ slaughter<strong>in</strong>g the pig.<br />

Kirsner & Thompson (1976), 210<br />

O hand, <strong>in</strong>g-PVCs resemble ACC-<strong>in</strong>g <strong>complements</strong> embedded by<br />

matrix <strong>verb</strong>s like e.g. remember, regret, or enjoy. However, <strong>in</strong>g-<br />

PVCs di er <strong>in</strong> a number of ways from ACC-<strong>in</strong>g <strong>complements</strong>: Whereas<br />

ACC-<strong>in</strong>g <strong>complements</strong> allow PRO-subjects and passivization of the<br />

whole complement which <strong>in</strong> turn <strong>in</strong>g-PVCs do not, <strong>in</strong>g-PVCs permit<br />

anaphoric subjects and adjunct extractions, and can alternate freely<br />

with NI-PVCs (for an overview refer to Felser (1995), 102 .).<br />

Table 2 shows the di erent PVCtypes that are considered <strong>in</strong> this<br />

chapter together with the non-PVC type referred to as INOM. The<br />

PVC types are referred to as that-PVCs, to-PVCs, PNOMs, <strong>in</strong>g-PVCs<br />

and NI-PVCs. Their structural variety is illustrated <strong>in</strong> the Table. Pre<strong>verb</strong>al<br />

NPs denote the logical subject of the complement. For the ve

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