Event-related states in secondary predication

Resumo

Analyses of secondary predication based on the aspectual properties of predicative
complements are almost standard today. This paper shows that these approaches are not
restrictive enough and make a large number of incorrect predictions. It also shows that the
meaning of the main (or primary) predicate is essential to restrict the secondary one. Throughout
the text, a pragmatically based analysis of the necessary restrictions is compared with one
grounded on semantic paradigms, and several examples are proposed of how the latter may
be articulated and developed. Event-related states in secondary predication are shown to be
necessary, and are claimed to follow from a series if fine-grained semantic notions crucially
related to the meaning of the primary verb.