Locative-directional alternations

This paper investigates three instances of locative-directional (loc/dir) alternation. The first involves words like here and there (henceforth HTW), which are traditionally taken to be adverbs, but which behave distributionally like either locative or directional PPs. I analyse HTW as the phrasal spellout of an abstract set of features expressing direction and location. These features stand in a containment relationship, i.e., directions contain locations. The loc/dir alternation is straightforwardly explained as an application of the Superset Principle, by which lexical trees may realize subtrees that they contain. From this it follows that lexical items that realize directions may also realize locations. A second case where a loc/dir alternation is observed is that of locative prepositions in combination with motion verbs. Here I claim that size differences in verbs and prepositions explain this phenomenon. The third case involves a loc/dir alternation where a locative P may become directional if the complement of P moves. These are analysed in terms of a peeling derivation, which leaves behind an oblique case layer, which transforms a locative P into a directional one

ISBN:978-80-244-5524-2

Publication year:2019

BOF-keylabel:yes

IOF-keylabel:yes

Authors from:Higher Education

Accessibility:Open