participial phrase

[Joon]

Arrested last night, he is in jail this morning.

Walking down the street, I got a frozen nose.


Are participial phrases subordinate clauses or just phrases?

[Alan]

Traditionally, a clause must contain a subject and finite verb. A recent trend among linguists, however, is to recognize the existence of a so-called 'nonfinite clause' (a contradiction in terms by the classical definition!), which is a phrase headed by a nonfinite verbal - i.e. an infinitive or participial phrase.