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    As an adjunct to verbs involving a change of location
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    Incorporating to-infinitival clauses can function as an adjunct to verbs involving a change of location. On the one hand, their interpretation involves a change of location, and on the other hand, it involves an activity described by the infinitival verb. The following example is of an incorporating to-infinitival clause which specifies the activity correlated with the change of location described by the main verb:

    Example 1

    Omdat syn heit him nei Grins ta stjoerde the teologystudearjen
    because his father him to Grins to sent to theology.study
    Because his father sent him to Grins to study theology

    The incorporated to-infinitival clause corresponds with a full infinitival clause of purpose. So the type of infinitival clause given above entails the clause below as a characteristic property:

    Example 2

    Omdat syn heit him nei Grins ta stjoerde om teology te studearjen
    because his father him to Grins to sent for theology to study
    Because his father sent him to Grins to study theology

    The literature may refer to the type of incorporating infinitivals discussed here as sentential infinitival clauses. Incorporating to-infinitivals functioning as adjuncts are also found with copulas of change of location having a complement in the form of an adposition (see As an adpositional complement to be and modals involving an absentive change of location).

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    This type of infinitival clause can in many cases be replaced by an Adposition Phrase (PP):

    Example 3

    a. Omdat syn heit him nei Grins ta stjoerde te teologystudearjen
    because his father him to Grins to sent to theology.study
    Because his father sent him to Grins to study theology
    b. Omdat syn heit him dêrfoar nei Grins ta stjoerde
    because his father him R.for to Grins to sent
    Because his father sent him to Grins for that purpose

    There seems to be a residual meaning difference between the PP and the infinitival adjunct. This type of infinitival adjunct characteristically occurs with verbs denoting a change of location. Some examples are given below:

    Example 4

    a. Omdat er allinnich by ús komt te baasspyljen
    because he only to us comes to boss.play
    Because he only visits us to play the boss
    b. Omdat se de auto nei de garaazje brocht te trochsmarren
    because she the car to the garage brought to through.smear
    Because she brought the car to the garage to be lubricated
    c. Omdat ik altyd nei Snits ta gean te kleankeapjen
    because I always to Snits to go to clothes.buy
    Because I always go to Snits to buy clothes

    The following example is somewhat different, since it does not involve a change of location, but a copula involving lack of change of location:

    Example 5

    Omdat er yn 'e hûs bliuwt te meihelpen
    because he in the house stays to with.help
    Because he stays in the house to help them

    The interpretation does involve location in the sense that the subject of the verb associates a location with an activity. This aspectual copula allows to-infinitivals on either side:

    Example 6

    a. Minsken dy't nachts te sliepen bliuwe
    people who nights to sleep stay
    People who stay overnight
    b. Fûn mem it goed dat ik hjir bliuw te sliepen?
    found mother it good that I here stayed to sleep
    Did my mother agree to me staying here overnight?

    The following sentences are both ungrammatical:

    Example 7

    a. ?*Omdat er nachts bliuwt te oerwurkjen
    because he night stays to over.work
    Because he stays at night to work overtime
    b. *Omdat er nachts te oerwurkjen bliuwt
    because he night to over.work stays
    Because he stays at night to work overtime

    The second example may be ungrammatical because the incorporated infinitival is forced into the complement position, which is not allowed with this verb which requires a locational complement. The first example is ungrammatical because the incorporated infinitival can only be interpreted as an adjunct if there is a locative complement. It is indeed the case that the first example improves if a locative PP is added:

    Example 8

    ?Omdat er nachts yn 'e fabryk bliuwt te oprêden en te oerwurkjen
    because he night in the factory stays to up.clean and over.work
    Because he stays in the factory at night to clean up and work overtime

    Examples involving this verb seem to involve locative control, that is, the location of the copula bliuwestay controls the location of the infinitival clause, in a way that is reminiscent of subject control.

    Adjuncts related to a change of location, as discussed in this section, differ from adpositional complements related to a change of location. The adpositional complement may co-occur with a PP denoting movement, but the copular verb itself does not denote movement. The infinitival adjunct, on the other hand, co-occurs with a verb denoting movement. Furthermore, the linear distribution of the infinitival complements is sensitive to the lexical presence or absence of a PP of movement.

    References:
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      ABOUT THIS TOPIC
      Author(s):
      Eric Hoekstra
      Category:
      Frisian Syntax
      Publication date:
      07 August 2019
      Keywords:
      to-infinitival clause change of location
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