Eva Klingvall On non-copula Tough Constructions in Swedish (PDF ...

136When the adjective appears in the neuter singular form, it is morphologicallyindistinguishable from the corresponding adverb, as seen in (9b)–(9c). Themorphological distinction between adjectives and adverbs is also obscured forsome adjectives whose stem ends in -t, such as lätt (‘easy’). These adjectiveshave the same form for both genders in the singular, and this form is moreoveridentical to the corresponding adverb:(10) a. en lätt bok/ett lätt probleman easy book-DEF/an easy problem‘an easy book/an easy problem.’b. Snö smälter lätt i varmt väder.snow melts easily in warm weather‘Snow melts easily in warm weather.’For TCs and go-TCs, thus, a morphological difference between the adjectiveand adverb is found with plural subjects, (11a)–(11b), and (except for lätt)with singular subjects in the common gender, (11c)–(11d):(11) a. Böckernabooks-DEFär lätta att läsa.are easy to read‘The books read slowly.’b. Böckernabooks-DEFgårgolätt att läsa.slowly to read‘The books read slowly.’c. Bokenbook-DEFäriströg att läsa.slow to read‘The book is slow to read.’d. Bokenbook-DEFgår trögt att läsa.goes slowly to read‘The book reads slowly.’Not all adjectives and adverbs can appear in these constructions. In thecase of TCs, the adjective is subject to a thematic restriction. More precisely,adjectives that assign a thematic role to their subject and consequently cannotappear with an expletive subject do not count as tough-adjectives (see Lasnik