UCL Working Papers in Linguistics 12 (2000)
Gerunds and multiple default inheritance
DICK HUDSON
In general, English gerunds such as (We were talking about) John having a
sabbatical combine the internal characteristics of a clause with the
external characteristics of a noun phrase. Previous analyses have tried to
recognise the mixed character of gerunds by assigning them two separate nodes,
one verbal and the other nominal, but all such analyses are problematic. This
paper proposes an analysis similar to that of Malouf (1998) in which the verbal
and nominal classifications are combined on a single node, and argues that the
node can in fact inherit, by multiple default inheritance, from both the
supercategories without any conflict. This is possible because ‘noun’ and
‘verb’ (as opposed to their respective sub-classes) place orthogonal
restrictions on the phrase that they head: ‘noun’ restricts its external
distribution, while ‘verb’ restricts its internal structure. (The analysis is
expressed in terms of Word Grammar, so these facts are actually expressed in
terms of dependencies: ‘noun’ and ‘verb’ appear only in restrictions on
dependents and parents respectively.) The analysis is extended to explain some
details of gerunds which confuse this very simple picture. On the one hand, a
limited range of determiners is possible: a ‘possessive’ subject (e.g. about
John’s having a sabbatical) or no in prohibitions or existentials
(e.g. No playing loud music! There’s no mistaking that voice). And on
the other hand, a very few constructions demand a gerund rather than a noun
phrase (e.g. It’s no use..., They prevented us from...).
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