Verbal and adjectival participles: Position and internal structure

In this paper an analysis is presented of prenominal and postnominal passive participles in English and Dutch. Besides the three types of participles commonly distinguished in the literature (statives, resultatives, and postnominal eventive participles), a fourth type is distinguished: prenominal eventive participles. It is claimed that the four types of participles have a different interpretation, which is related to a different internal syntactic structure. The analysis of passive participles is also extended to other types of deverbal modifiers. It is argued that the internal syntactic structure of the four types of participles forces their merging to the left or the right of the noun.

► Prenominal and postnominal participles in English and Dutch are analyzed.
► Statives, resultatives, post- and prenominal eventive participles are distinguished.
► The participle's interpretation is related to its internal syntactic structure.
► The internal structure determines the participle's position with respect to the noun.