Metonymy as a Motivating Factor in the System of Adjective Complementation in English
Metonymy as a Motivating Factor in the System of Adjective Complementation in English

Summary/Abstract: The present paper is concerned with demonstrating how various types of metonymic mappings can help motivate (i) the morphosyntactic form and (ii) the semantic content of complements of certain sets of English predicative adjectives, thus eliminating a number of apparent idiosyncracies in the complementation system of English adjectives. Two case studies, one on a marginal possessive construction and the other on predications exhibiting MANNER-FOR-ACTIVITY metonymy, are adduced to illustrate some morphosyntactic aspects, while a case study on the predicatively used adjective compatible, provides evidence for the latter aspect of motivation.

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