Ground promotion and complex particle constructions in Norwegian

Abstract

This paper presents an HPSG analysis of Norwegian particle constructions with Ground promotion, as exemplified in (1), where av ‘off’ functions as a particle and the object bordet ‘the table’ is a Ground argument.

(1) Jeg rydder AV bordet.
I clear off table.DEF
‘I clear the table.’

It will be shown that the Ground promotion construction has similarities with both regular particle constructions and constructions with selected prepositions, and an analysis will be presented where Ground promotion is assumed to be a combination of these two constructions, viz. a complex particle construction. The analysis is implemented in a bidirectional typed feature structure grammar, and it will demonstrate that unification and type inheritance facilitates the merger of two constructions into one, while simultaneously allowing them to be kept apart.