The Syntax and Semantics of adverbial Participle Constructions with the Participle 1 in German

This article presents the results of a new corpus-based study of German participle constructions headed by the present participle, focusing on the different adverbial interpretations of these constructions and the interpretation of the implicit subject they contain. The study shows that the German present participle construction can have a wide variety of adverbial readings, ranging from event- and process-related to sentence and speech-act adverbial interpretations. A further finding is that there is a correlation between the specific adjunction site of a present participle construction in the so-called middle field and its interpretation. Finally, the study shows that although the implicit subject in these constructions is usually co-referent with the matrix subject, it also allows other antecedents inside or outside the matrix clause.