posthumously

[Neal Whitman]

Oh, wow, it's a right-node wrapping! It's a coordination of form

    A and B C D,

where A and B are coordinated on the surface, C is the "factor" (using
Pullum/Zwicky terminology) that applies to both A and B and seemingly brings
the coordinate structure to a close. But wait, there's more! The D goes with
only the B coordinate!

The canonical way for this to happen is for A to be a transitive verb and
B+D to be a phrasal transitive verb, or verb plus resultative phrase, and C
to be the factored-out direct object; for example, "Take and put this away"
(meaning "take this and put it away").

In this case:

    A = Baker
    B = six other black WWII veterans
    C = received medals
    D = posthumously

This is the first kind of RNW I've seen with coordinated subjects. For many
more examples, see
http://literalminded.wordpress.com/category/syntax/coordination/right-node-wrapping-friends-in-low-places-coordinations/

Neal

----- Original Message -----
From: "Victor Steinbok" <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2010 10:23 PM
Subject: posthumously


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      posthumously
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  There is a slight problem with the distributive syntax in the
> following sentence:
>
>> Baker and six other black World War II veterans received medals
>> posthumously at a 1997 White House ceremony.
>
> Looking at this sentence alone, would it be fair to conclude that the
> medals were awarded to all seven veterans after they were already dead?
> Unfortunately, "posthumously" here refers only to "six other ...
> veterans" and not to Baker--the line comes in the middle of an article
> about a recent abruptly unsuccessful visit of Baker's family to the
> White House, following Vernon Baker's death in July of this year. So the
> 1997 award was not "posthumous" for Baker.
>
> The article, which I received by email, is credited to Fox News, but I
> have not looked for the original on-line.
>
>     VS-)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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