Particle-Verb Idioms in English: A Symmetric Analysis

Abstract

This paper investigates particle-verb constructions in English with focus on particle-verb idioms-idioms consisting of a particle-verb and a DP. Particle-verb idioms are classified into three subtypes according to the placement of the particle relative to the verb. First, there is a group of idioms that require the merged order of the verb and particle (e.g., blow off steam / *blow steam off). Another must appear in the split order (e.g., let the side down / *let down the side). The final group allows alternation between the two surface orders (e.g., keep up one’s end / keep one’s end up). Based on the finding that the flexibility in idiom interpretation is correlated with the amount of verbal structure associated (Punske and Stone 2014, Stone 2016), I argue against the derivational approach to the particle-verb construction. According to the derivational analyses, the merged and split order of particle-verbs share an underlying structure. Such an approach incorrectly predicts only two of the three groups of particle-verb idioms to be possible. I argue that a symmetrical treatment of the two surface orders of particle-verbs enables us to comprehensively account for the idiom facts. In particular, I propose that the merged and split order of particle-verbs involve two different syntactic structures. The two surface orders arise depending on whether the verbal root head-adjoins to the Part(icle) head or the verbalizing v head. The three groups of idioms realize either or both of the proposed structures. In addition to capturing the patterns of particle-verb idioms, I demonstrate that a number of traditional observations about the construction naturally follow. The analysis is shown to be robust in explaining the semantic contrast between the two surface orders, non-idiomatic particle-verbs with a fixed order, right-modification, and particle-verbs with an augmented argument structure.