Lexical and Functional Prepositions in Acquisition - Evidence for a Hybrid Category Appendix

7 Appendix: Syntactic Tests: Prepositions, Adverbs, Particles 7.1 Prepositions , Adverbs and Particles There are several ways to distinguish between prepositions, adverbs and particles in English. The first two tests are based on the nature of the object’s relationship with the preposition, adverb, or particle. Because prepositions require a complement noun phrase, they cannot be placed in a post-object position, while adverbs and particles can freely change positions with the object (Fraser, 1976; Baker, 1995). The sentences in (1a) and (1b) show the ability of particles and adverbs to shift positions, while those in (1c) show the preposition's inability to shift. (1) a Fill up the diaper pail. / Fill the diaper pail up. (particle) b Pick up my box. / Pick my box up. (adverb) c Walk up the hill. / *Walk the hill up. (preposition) A second test questions whether or not an object pronoun can be separated from the verb; particles and adverbs are unable to occur between the verb and the pronoun object, while prepositions must remain in this position (Baker, 1995). Examples in (2a) and (2b) show the inability of particles and adverbs to separate the pronoun object from the verb, while (2c) shows the preposition’s ability to do so. (2) a He ate it up. / *He ate up it. (particle) b I'm peeling it off. /*I'm peeling off it. (adverb) c *I stepped it over. / I stepped over it. (preposition) Because prepositions are more closely related to their complement noun phrase than to the verb, short adverbials may separate the verb from the PP, while the same construction with a particle or adverb will be ungrammatical (Fraser, 1976). An example of this is shown in (3), where the ungrammatical sentences contain particle and adverb constructions, and the prepositional structure in (3c) is grammatical. (3) a *I’ll pick quickly out the shoes. (particle) b *She took quickly off her bandaid. (adverb) c She jumped quickly off the chair. (preposition) Lastly, the lack of a close relation between the PP and the verb means that the PP can be fronted to sentence initial position, while a particle or adverb never can (Fraser, 1976). This is illustrated in (4). (4) a *Up the diaper pail, she filled (particle) b *Up my box, I picked. (adverb) c Up the hill, she walked. (preposition) 7.2 Adverbs and Particles To distinguish particles from adverbs, there are three2 additional tests which can be applied, as developed by Fraser (1976) and further detailed in Sawyer (1999). First, the particle cannot be modified by degree adverbials, as in (5a), while the adverb can be modified in this way, as in (5b). (5) a *She ate the apple only part of the way/all the way up. (particle) b She pulled her pants only part of the way/all the way on. (adverb) Second, the adverb may function as a constituent in a gapped sentence, while the particle cannot, as shown in (6). In (6b), the adverb changes the direction of the action (up or down), but not the action itself, whereas with the particle construction, it is the combination of the verb and particle together that create a meaning: to ‘do in a person’ is to kill someone, and to ‘do up an article of clothing’ is to fasten it closed. Thus with the particle construction, the verb cannot be gapped, and the sentence fails. (6) a *Smith did his enemy in, and Max his coat up. (particle) b Sarah pulled the pants up, and Naomi, the sweater down. (adverb) With regard to prosody, the particle cannot take contrastive stress, while the adverb can. Because the verb and the particle essentially form a single semantic unit, the particle is dependent on the verb, and can’t be contrasted with another particle. Adverbs, on the other hand, are independent of the verb, and can be contrasted with other adverbs. Example (7a) shows that the particle off can’t be used with contrastive stress because it can’t be contrasted with another particle, like on; the phrase ‘to carry something off’ means to have final success, while ‘to carry on’ means to keep doing something. But because the adverb is independent of the verb, it can be contrasted with other adverbs, as seen in (7b). (7) a *I said to carry the deception OFF, not ON. (particle) b I said to carry the prop ON, not OFF. (adverb)