English participles in the derivational paradigm

Abstract

This chapter surveys the different uses of the English participles and discusses their status with respect to the distinction between derivation and inflection. In the debate about whether participles are verbal or adjectival, or indeed a mix between the two, most scholars have taken the position that ability to undergo further derivation (with affixes like -ness or negative unfor instance) indicates adjectival status. The paper assumes a descriptive focus and, without aiming to take a conclusive position relative to this general debate, explores such derivation further. The patterns covered in the paper are relatively few, but productive. This leads to derivational networks with sparse membership, but generally stable formal and semantic alignment.