Search Results

Complex Sentences

Ronald W. Langacker

in Cognitive Grammar: A Basic Introduction

The distinction between coordination and subordination is not clear-cut. The essence of coordination is the mental juxtaposition of structures construed as parallel and co-equal. Subordination has a ... More

The distinction between coordination and subordination is not clear-cut. The essence of coordination is the mental juxtaposition of structures construed as parallel and co-equal. Subordination has a number of dimensions, including form, the participation of one clause in the relationship profiled by another, and a clause's profile being overridden at the composite structure level. Constituency and profiling are often flexible, depending on factors like the size of clauses and their discourse function. The traditional division into adverbial, relative, and complement clauses is based primarily on how clauses are connected with one another. To the extent that these distinctions hold, they are based on semantic function rather than specific structural configurations. In the case of complements, the classic distinction between control and raising constructions is non-fundamental, the latter being just a special case of the former. Finite and nonfinite complements differ not just in form but in meaning and typical function. Predicates taking finite complements pertain to the epistemic status of propositions; those taking nonfinite complements pertain to the realization of occurrences. Complementation involves multiple conceptualizers and levels of conception. Different conceptualizers apprehend the same proposition each from their own perspective, assessing it with respect to their own conception of reality. Complement-taking predicates refer to different phases of this assessment. Impersonal constructions invoke a conceptualizer and the relevant scope of awareness in generalized fashion, suggesting that anyone would make the assessment under the circumstances.Less

From Question to Subordination

Bernd Heine and Tania Kuteva

in The Changing Languages of Europe

In most languages of Europe, there is a polysemy pattern to the effect that one and the same marker (e.g., English who) is used to introduce both questions and subordinate clauses. This situation is ... More

In most languages of Europe, there is a polysemy pattern to the effect that one and the same marker (e.g., English who) is used to introduce both questions and subordinate clauses. This situation is cross-linguistically unusual, and this chapter attempts to account for why such a polysemy pattern exists and why it is, to a large extent, confined to the languages of Europe or to languages that have been in contact with Indo-European languages.Less

Why is Sequence of Tense Obligatory?

James Higginbotham

in Tense, Aspect, and Indexicality

This chapter discusses the sequence of tense in complement clauses and object relative clauses. It shows how, given very simple semantic principles, the basic semantic phenomena associated with ... More

This chapter discusses the sequence of tense in complement clauses and object relative clauses. It shows how, given very simple semantic principles, the basic semantic phenomena associated with sequence of tense will follow. It then takes up the fundamental question of this chapter — the asymmetry between complement clauses and object relatives — and argues that an answer proposed since 1993, indebted to the proposal of Ogihara (1989), is incorrect. Finally, the chapter provides an alternative answer and remarks some questions that remain open.Less

Competence with Demonstratives

James Higginbotham

in Tense, Aspect, and Indexicality

This chapter argues that the impression of conflict between the aim of preserving perspective and the aim of preserving reference — induced by the distinction between those aspects of language use ... More

This chapter argues that the impression of conflict between the aim of preserving perspective and the aim of preserving reference — induced by the distinction between those aspects of language use that belong to the setting-up phase and those that belong to the phase of saying things — survives under scrutiny and is even inevitable given the principles that govern our languages. It examines linguistic competence with demonstrative and indexical constructions, and the semantics of complement clauses, and supports the metaphor of transformations of coordinate systems. If these views are on the right track, then the notion of semantic competence — knowledge of meaning — should be seen as including the principles governing demonstrative and indexical expressions.Less

Clauses with ThatClause Complements

Paul M. Postal

in Edge-Based Clausal Syntax: A Study of (Mostly) English Object Structure

This chapter deals with various clauses having that clause complements, including those containing what appear to be 3 objects. It illustrates how clauses offer important insights into English ... More

This chapter deals with various clauses having that clause complements, including those containing what appear to be 3 objects. It illustrates how clauses offer important insights into English periphrastic passives. The chapter first considers an example which is associated with a distinct pattern of passivization possibilities before turning to a four-way typology of verbs taking that clause complements. It then discusses Type II verbal clause structures in relation to English periphrastic passives and invisible resumptive pronouns, ditransitive clauses with that clause complements, and particles and 3 objects.Less

Complex sentences and clause linking

Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald

in The Art of Grammar: A Practical Guide

This chapter addresses clause linking and complex clauses. A sentence consists of at least one main clause. The chapter starts with the coordination of two or more clauses of the same status. The ... More

This chapter addresses clause linking and complex clauses. A sentence consists of at least one main clause. The chapter starts with the coordination of two or more clauses of the same status. The chapter then turns to relative clauses, complement clauses, adverbial clauses, and chains of clauses connected through switch reference. Ellipsis and syntactic pivot are important principles in combining clauses. Sentences containing speech reports stand apart from the rest. The final section turns to other features of the sentence as a whole.Less

Documenting Raising and Control in Moro

Peter Jenks and Sharon Rose

in Africa's Endangered Languages: Documentary and Theoretical Approaches

This chapter details classes of raising and control predicates in Moro and the different types of clausal complements for which these predicates select. It is demonstrated that Moro allows raising ... More

This chapter details classes of raising and control predicates in Moro and the different types of clausal complements for which these predicates select. It is demonstrated that Moro allows raising from both finite and non-finite complement clauses, while control predicates select only non-finite complements, including infinitival clauses and gerunds. Putative finite complements of control predicates are shown to be instances of No Control. In addition, the chapter examines the distribution of different classes of control and raising predicates relative to each other in order to motivate an articulated clausal structure for Moro. More generally, this chapter stands as a proof-of-concept that relatively simple diagnostic tests can be employed during linguistic elicitation to distinguish control from raising constructions. It is suggested that such tests comprise an essential component of linguistic documentation.Less

The complex clause

Mihaela Gheorghe, Andreea Dinică, Rodica Zafiu, and Oana Uță Bărbulescu

in The Syntax of Old Romanian

The chapter addresses some aspects of the structure of complex clauses in OR, with special attention to subordination. This description focuses on the inventory of clausal connectors in OR ... More

The chapter addresses some aspects of the structure of complex clauses in OR, with special attention to subordination. This description focuses on the inventory of clausal connectors in OR (complementizers, wh-words and conjunctions), on their conditions of selection and distribution, on clitic reduplication phenomena, correlatives, and word order. Besides the prototypical complementizers, OR employed complementizers which have either lost their values in MR, or have grammaticalized and are now specialized as supplementary modal markers. Special attention is paid to the strategy of relativization in OR (linkage mechanism and the selection of the wh-words). Several subsections are devoted to the presentation of clausal adjuncts (temporal, local, manner, causal, purpose, result, conditional, and concessive) and comparative clauses and constructions.Less

Embedded Verb Second in the history of German

Svetlana Petrova

in Rethinking Verb Second

This chapter is a corpus study investigating the presence and the distribution of asyndetic (complementizerless) V2 complement clauses in Old High German. In modern German, such clauses represent ... More

This chapter is a corpus study investigating the presence and the distribution of asyndetic (complementizerless) V2 complement clauses in Old High German. In modern German, such clauses represent well-known semantically restricted variants of canonical that-complements, but their existence in the earliest attestation is disputed. The present investigation argues that there is evidence for verb movement to C in asyndetic complement clauses in Old High German, and that the typology of V2-embedding predicates is stable over time. At the same time, it is shown that some additional conditions that limit the availability of V2 in the complements of individual classes of matrix predicates obviously emerge only after the Old High German period.Less

Complementation strategies in Dyirbal

R. M. W. Dixon

in Edible Gender, Mother-in-Law Style, and Other Grammatical Wonders: Studies in Dyirbal, Yidiñ, and Warrgamay

Dyirbal lacks a complement clause construction. However, there are a number of other construction types which have secondary function as ‘complementation strategies’, covering the roles filled by ... More

Dyirbal lacks a complement clause construction. However, there are a number of other construction types which have secondary function as ‘complementation strategies’, covering the roles filled by complement clauses in other languages. In summary, although Dyirbal has no complement clauses per se, it does of course have verbs which correspond to those that take complement clauses in languages which have them. These verbs in Dyirbal carry the expectation of occurring in one of a number of construction types which can be called ‘complementation strategies’. These are the purposive construction, the relative clause construction, and the serial verb construction. Which verb expects which strategy relates to the meaning of the verb, and the meanings of the construction types used as complementation strategies.Less

Confounding Cases: Strict NPIs and Scope

Chris Collins and Paul M. Postal

in Classical NEG Raising: An Essay on the Syntax of Negation

This chapter focuses on the scope of strict negative polarity items (NPIs). It first considers scope issues concerning nonfinite complement clauses, with particular emphasis on similar pairs with ... More

This chapter focuses on the scope of strict negative polarity items (NPIs). It first considers scope issues concerning nonfinite complement clauses, with particular emphasis on similar pairs with analogous judgment markings, the relevance of stress contrasts to the ambiguities of NPI any forms as well as to those of other nominal NPIs, and the differential scope of the determiner phrase represented by anything (“Vaughn didn't accept to write anything about radiation”). It then turns to cases of infinitival complements containing strict NPIs, along with cases where the issue of high-scope confounds involve finite complement clauses. Finally, it suggests that any attempt to diagnose the presence or absence of Classical NEG Raising (NR) must always take into account the possibility of NEG raising out of main clause scope positions.Less

NEG Raising from Scope Positions

Chris Collins and Paul M. Postal

in Classical NEG Raising: An Essay on the Syntax of Negation

This chapter focuses on the assumption that the negative polarity item (NPI) phrase occupies a scope position as well as the object position, suggesting that NEG raising takes place only from the ... More

This chapter focuses on the assumption that the negative polarity item (NPI) phrase occupies a scope position as well as the object position, suggesting that NEG raising takes place only from the scope position. It also claims that [[NEG SOME] thing] must occupy a scope position, a common assumption in the syntax and semantics literature; that for a determiner phrase (DP) with a scope occurrence, the scope occurrence is the unique available launching point for NEG raising; and that if the NEGs of quantifier DPs raise out of nonscope positions, “overgeneration” will result in certain clear cases, whereas if such raising can only launch from scope positions, the overgeneration is avoided. In the sentence Rodney claimed that Evelyn did not own any cheetah, the scope of the quantifier DP is internal to the complement clause. The chapter also considers a structure with negation in the main clause in the sentence Rodney did not claim that Evelyn owned any cheetah.Less

Systemic ambiguity as a motivation in the emergence of logophoricity

Zygmunt Frajzyngier and Marielle Butters

in The Emergence of Functions in Language

Chapter 4 demonstrates that a systematic ambiguity within a domain may constitute a motivation in the emergence of a function. The functional domain discussed is the domain of reference. The ... More

Chapter 4 demonstrates that a systematic ambiguity within a domain may constitute a motivation in the emergence of a function. The functional domain discussed is the domain of reference. The systematic ambiguity at play is the coding of reference in clausal complements of verbs of saying. More specifically, the question is whether the participants in the complement clause are coreferential with the participant in the matrix clause or whether they are not coreferential. Some languages deploy pronouns in the complement clause to code disjoint reference and person, number, and gender agreement on the verb to code coreference (Polish). Other languages deploy pronouns in the complement clause to code coreference and nouns to code disjoint reference (English). The specific solution described in Chapter 4 are logophoric pronouns which code not only coreference with the subject of the matrix clause but also coreference with other arguments of the matrix clause. The Chapter describes how logophoric coding emerged from the de dicto reference markers.Less

Complex sentences

Raoul Zamponi and Bernard Comrie

in A Grammar of Akabea

This chapter presents the limited available material on complex sentences, in particular coordination of clauses, relative clauses, and complement clauses.

Nonfinite Clauses

Chris Collins and Paul M. Postal

in Classical NEG Raising: An Essay on the Syntax of Negation

This chapter considers the role of nonfinite clauses in the distribution of Classical NEG Raising (NR). It first considers the literature bias toward finite hosts in standard Classical NR cases, ... More

This chapter considers the role of nonfinite clauses in the distribution of Classical NEG Raising (NR). It first considers the literature bias toward finite hosts in standard Classical NR cases, along with proposals in nonsyntactic approaches that the Classical NR phenomenon is purely a function of the interaction of the meanings of the Classical NR predicates (CNRPs) with independent semantic or pragmatic principles. Since it is obscure how the semantic properties of CNRPs could be systematically different in their finite and nonfinite instances, on semantic/pragmatic treatments one expects that the same relations should systematically hold when the negation (NEG) sits in a nonfinite host. The chapter outlines the basics of the distinction between finite and nonfinite hosts and presents examples indicating the lack of a Classical NR reading for a NEG raised into a nonfinite clause and the impossibility of a strict negative polarity item (NPI) in the relevant complement clause. It also discusses the Classical NR Nonfiniteness Condition and composed quantifier cases.Less

On the personal infinitive in Sicilian*

Delia Bentley

in Diachrony and Dialects: Grammatical Change in the Dialects of Italy

This chapter discusses the personal infinitive in Sicilian, taking a comparative and diachronic perspective. It is pointed out that this structure, which is characterized by a nominative subject, has ... More

This chapter discusses the personal infinitive in Sicilian, taking a comparative and diachronic perspective. It is pointed out that this structure, which is characterized by a nominative subject, has properties which are comparable to those of the inflected infinitive (it occurs in clausal domains) and of the personal infinitive in other Romance languages (it is not found in obligatory control domains). A distinction is drawn between a conservative dependent-marking structure in early Sicilian, where the infinitive occurs in bare subject and object complement clauses, and an innovative head-marking structure, where the infinitive occurs in adverbial purpose or causal clauses. Whilst the former structure is well-attested in the early texts, but subsequently lost, the latter has evolved into a switch-referencing strategy in modern Sicilian. Complement clauses with a personal infinitive require a complementizer in modern Sicilian, and appear not to be a direct development of the conservative structure of the early texts.Less