Dissertation

Deconstructing meaning: a semiotactic approach to gerundival constructions in English

On January 30th, Lennart van der Velden succesfully defended his doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Lennart on this great result.

Author

Lennart van der Velden

Date

30 January 2019

Links

Leiden University Repository

Abstract

In this work, I attempt to inventorise the various  positions -ing forms can take in English sentences from a semiotactic  perspective, focusing on the elusive semantics of the clausal gerund (e.g.  Reading books is fun). It is hoped that this work will be a useful  contribution to the active debate that still surrounds the clausal gerund,  and that it will convince the reader of the versatility and usefulness of the  semiotactic framework in analysing linguistic data.