Eckhard Bick - VISL

While it is one of the clausality tests for infinitive structures, that the subject of the ICL
be other than that of the main clause, this is not an obligatory feature, as the pair (3c) -
(3d) shows. In the case of different subjects, Portuguese can use personal (inflected)
infinitives (1g, 3b), making it easier for the CG-rules to see what the subject is. Most of
the above ICL-functions are subject to selection restrictions. Some cannot freely
alternate with other nominal material (NP and FS), like (4a) and (4b), that allow only
alternation with adverbial material, (1e) that only alternates with NPs, and the
completly idiosyncratic (3a). Also the matrix verbs allowed in each case, are restricted
classes, like perception, causative and cognitive verbs for ACC, and movement verbs
for ADVL (4). ICLs headed by relatives seem to occur only with 'ter' (1e, and,
indirectly, 2a). For preposition argument ICLs, the lexical matrix restrictions reside not
in the preposition (which is "transparent"), but in the next higher dependency level, if
the PP is a postnominal complement (3a, 3b) or prepositional object (3e).
The prototypical usage of the gerund is in adverbial adjunct ICLs (1), while
complement function is rare (2), literary (3), or fixed (4):
• Gerund as sentence adjunct adverbial
(1a) falando do João, não quero convidá-lo. (ADVL)
• Gerund as clause level argument (of verb)
(2a) Como imagina-lo partilhando à vera a administração com outros,...(OC)
Mostrou gangues e organizações da extrema direita entoando uma cantilena
neonazista (OC)
• Gerund as argument in PP
(3a) Em comendo, podes ir brincar. (P