Prace komisji nauk.pdf - Instytut Filologii Angielskiej Uniwersytetu ...

characteristic of be has important implication for the rest of our reasoning because
it give us the possibility to claim that it does not constitute a part of a predicate.
Predicate is not formed by be (or its inflectional forms) and an adjective phrase but
only by the adjective phrase. The argument-predicate relation of the sentence (8) is
provided by (13):
(13) EXPERIENCER(we) angry
However, this analysis is incomplete without pointing out the exact position
of the NP inside the whole adjective phrase. To be more precise it does not inform
us whether the NP takes the place of external or internal argument. There is visible
difference between both kinds of arguments. It is worth noticing that internal
arguments receive their theta roles within the immediate expansion of the category
of the predicate, whereas external arguments get their theta roles indirectly, what
means that their theta role assigner is located outside the immediate expansion of
the category of the predicate, however, it is still placed inside the maximal
expansion of the category of the predicate. Taking into consideration the position of
NP - external argument in verb phrases, we may conclude that the position of
specifier inside adjective phrases is also occupied by NP. It thus appears that it
must be an external argument of the whole phrase. Above-mentioned claim can be
justified by analyzing sentences (14) and (15):
(14) They were disappointed.
(15) They like their children.
In sentence (14) the relation between the external predicate they and predicate
disappointed is exactly the same as the relation of they to like their children in (15).
This similarity is visible in (16) and (17) in which internal positions of subjects are
represented:
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