Participles: Form, use and meaning

Abstract

This paper serves as an introduction to a special collection on the form, use and meaning of past passive participles used in perfect and passive constructions. We discuss various issues which later become prominent in the papers of the volume, which include morphology and participle formation, the use of past passive participles in perfect forms, as well as in verbal and adjectival passives, and the interpretation of such participles. Given that participles in general are characterised as a mixed category with verbal and adjectival properties, we devote some time to address the source of the verbal and adjectival characteristics as well as the source of stativity and eventivity in the interpretation of past passive participles.