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Nominalisation of an intermediate projection of the gerundial infinitive
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A gerundial infinitive may be nominalised before or after a complement has been attached to it. This entails that an argument to a nominalised infinitive may be licensed either in the verbal domain or in the nominal domain, but the verbal part of the projection must be included in the nominal part.

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The gerundial infinitive may be nominalised at the foot of its projection, at the top of its projection or anywhere in between. The locus of nominalisation is not signalledd by any special morphology. Nominalisation can only be inferred to have taken place higher or lower on the projection line of the Noun Phrase (NP) from diagnostics like the following:

  • The infinitival complements are licensed like complements to a noun, that is, they must occur to the right of the infinitive and they are preceded by the preposition fan of.
  • There are functional elements present requiring an NP such as demonstratives, articles and adjectives bearing attributive inflection.
If the gerundial infinitive has been nominalised at the foot of its projection, then its complements will be realised in the nominal domain. An example is the following:

1
It ferkeapjen fan alkohol oan jonge bern fan barkeepers muoit my
the sell.GI of alcohol to young children of bar.keepers saddens me
The selling of alcohol to young children of bar keepers saddens me

If the gerundial infinitive has been nominalised in the middle of its projection, then the direct object is licensed in the verbal domain:

2
It alkohol ferkeapjen oan jonge bern fan barkeepers muoit my
the alcohol sell.GI to young children of bar.keepers saddens me
The selling of alcohol to young children by bar keepers saddens me

If the gerundial infinitive is nominalised at the top of its projection, then the direct object and the indirect object are licensed in the verbal domain:

3
It jonge bern alkohol ferkeapjen fan barkeepers muoit my
the young children alcohol sell.GI of bar.keepers saddens me
The selling of alcohol to young children by bar keepers saddens me
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