Constructing Spanish Complex Predicates

Abeillé and Godard (2007) describe a variety of Spanish whose complex predicates differ structurally from the more familiar flat VP type of complex predicate common to other varieties of Spanish and Romance. I present a verb cluster analysis of this variety which both captures these structural differences, and at the same time preserves those features that are common across both construction types. Coupled with a simple morphological treatment of affixation, this analysis predicts the range of ‘clitic climbing’ facts. The parsimony of the affixation analysis is afforded by an alternative approach to the constraints on reflexive affix distribution in Spanish complex predicates. I depart radically from previous morpho-lexical approaches to the phenomenon, instead showing how the constraints follow from independently motivated binding principles. This approach not only handles more of the Spanish data, but also has the potential to provide a unified account of the phenomenon across Romance.