A single-event analysis for German eventive mit-modifiers

Abstract

German adverbial modifiers headed by the preposition mit ‘with’ can have eventive internal arguments. The combinatorics of these modifiers with their verbal target raises the question whether the modifying and the modified event description are to be considered as referring to one or to two events. I argue that eventive mit-modifiers and their targets refer to one event, but they conceptualize this event in two ways. Furthermore, the interpretation of the modified verbal projection depends on the position at which the modifier is integrated. More precisely, eventive mit-modifiers can target either the event kind contributed by the matrix predicate or the full-fledged event particular. This is implemented in an analysis in terms of accommodation of a dual aspect event within the framework of Type Composition Logic.