Pseudo-depictive predicates as event-kind modifiers

Abstract

The principle of compositionality is challenged by linguistic phenomena whose interpretation requires the supplementation of compositional semantics with conceptual knowledge. As a case study, this paper explores a previously unnoticed phenomenon in German, exemplified by Pia hat warm geduscht ‘Pia took a warm shower’. In examples such as this, the target of the adjectival predicate must be pragmatically inferred—in this case, the water used for showering. I argue that this phenomenon can be accounted for by treating the adjective as an adverbial that is pseudo-incorporated into the verbal cluster, thereby motivating an analysis as an event-kind modifier in terms of underspecification. More precisely, the adjective is conceived of as a hybrid between an event-kind modifier and an individual-kind modifier: it determines the subtype of an underspecified individual kind introduced compositionally, which in turn constrains the event kind introduced by the verb. Overall, this study supports the view that the interaction between compositional semantics and conceptual knowledge is an integral part of meaning constitution: conceptual knowledge is integrated at well-defined points determined by the compositional structure itself, particularly in headrelated modification.