The Syntax of Preverbal Particles and Adjunction in Irish

It is shown that five apparently irreconcilable claims about the clausal syntax of Irish can be reconciled in a natural, base-generated LFG analysis that builds on the standard LFG theory of endocentricity and coheads/extended heads, the LFG projection architecture, and Toivonen’s (2001) work on nonprojecting categories and c-structure adjunction. The analysis also builds on McCloskey’s (1996) analysis of Irish adjunction, but does not posit complementizer lowering. The principal theoretical consequences of the analysis are 1) the reconciliation of the five claims, in particular a synthesis of McCloskey’s position that the Irish preverbal particles are complementizers and Sells’s (1984) position that they are head-adjoined to the verb, 2) the elaboration of Toivonen’s (2001) theory of c-structure adjunction, 3) correct predictions about not only adjunction to matrix and subordinate clauses, but also adjunction to appositives.