On the syntax of Formosan adverbial verb constructions

This paper deals with the adverbial verb construction (AVC) in Formosan languages. Three major issues concerning the AVC are addressed: (i) What syntactic relationship is involved in the AVC: Adjunction or complementation? (ii) What syntactic operation is taking place in the AVC: Control or raising? (iii) What is the syntactic status of adverbial verbs: Do they occur as functional heads, lexical heads, or something in between? Our findings suggest that (a) the AVC involves complementation rather than adjunction; (b) the AVC typically involves raising rather than control; (c) adverbial verbs are semi-lexical or quasi-functional rather than simply functional or lexical in nature.