EXTRA: Gianluca Porta (Ulster University)

Extraction from adjuncts: the role of Small Clauses

A well-known distinction between arguments and adjuncts is that only the former allow extraction. A number of reasons for the island status of adjuncts have been proposed (e.g. Haung’s (1982) CED). Recent experimental studies challenged the categorical island status of adjuncts. In this talk, I will focus on English –ing gerunds, and I will show when and why they allow extraction. A gerund is transparent when the internal argument of the matrix predicate is a Small Clause (SC). The presence of SC integrates the gerund, integrating it with the matrix clause and thus turning it into a weak island.