Skip to content
Free planNo credit card requiredStart writing
AI for Research home
AI for Research home
Dashboard
Sign inGet started

Search 250 million research papers

Read the abstract, see who wrote it and who cites it, and get the citation in APA, MLA, Chicago or Harvard.

About 973 papers for “Complementizer”

Complementizer Agreement

van Koppen, J.M. · Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) · 2017

Complementizers agree in phi-features with the embedded subject in dialects of German and Dutch, in Tense with the embedded clause in Irish and in phi-features with the matrix subject in certain African languages. These complementizer agreement phenomena will be the main empirical focus of this chapter. In particular it discusses the empirical generalizations and analyses of complementizer agreement itself as well as the relevance of this phenomenon for the theoretical debate on the interaction between the syntactic and the PF module of the grammar, the analysis of agreement, the relation between T0 and C0, and the layout of the left periphery.

Cited by 0Open access

Complementizer Agreement

Marjo van Koppen · The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Syntax, Second Edition · 2017

Abstract Complementizers agree in phi‐features with the embedded subject in dialects of German and Dutch, in Tense with the embedded clause in Irish and in phi‐features with the matrix subject in certain African languages. These complementizer agreement phenomena will be the main empirical focus of this chapter. In particular it discusses the empirical generalizations and analyses of complementizer agreement itself as well as the relevance of this phenomenon for the theoretical debate on the interaction between the syntactic and the PF module of the grammar, the analysis of agreement, the relation between T 0 and C 0 , and the layout of the left periphery.

Cited by 36Open access

Complementizer Deletion

Valentina Bianchi, Mara Frascarelli · The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Syntax, Second Edition · 2017

Abstract This chapter reviews the phenomenology of complementizer‐deletion and the approaches that have emerged in successive phases of the generative framework, focusing mainly on English, and distinguishing two subtypes: (i) optional C‐deletion in embedded declarative clauses, and (ii) “Doubly Filled Comp” (DFC) effects in clauses hosting a wh ‐phrase in CP, where the appearance or omission of the local complementizer is subject to diachronic and cross‐linguistic variation. Not included here are “Complementizer‐trace effects.” The approaches to this phenomenology can be divided into three major phases. In the GB phase, DFC effects were analyzed by means of a surface filter, while optional C‐deletion was reduced to the Empty Category Principle: a complementizer can be optionally deleted only if it is properly governed by a verbal head. In the early 1990a, a “truncation” account emerged, based on the observation that C‐less clauses disallow Topicalization and Negative preposing in them. It was argued that C‐less clauses are bare IPs; later on, the emergence of the split CP structure allowed for a less radical truncation analysis, as well as for a reconsideration of DFC effects (ii). Starting from the late 1990s, the interface between syntax and the external systems came into focus. Investigation of C‐deletion in Italian subjunctive clauses concentrated on the syntax–semantics interface, while an analysis of optional C‐deletion (i) was proposed on the basis of the syntax–prosody interface. Prosodic evidence is here provided, based on elicited data. Finally, a potential parallelism is discussed between optional C‐deletion (i) and the phenomenology of “embedded root phenomena.”

Cited by 2

Complementizer-gap phenomena

John Löwenadler · Studies in language companion series · 2008

Since Perlmutter (1971) the complementizer-gap effect has received much attention in linguistic research. This article investigates the solution presented in Van Valin (2005) which states that the phenomenon should be explained in pragmatic rather than syntactic terms. Using data from Swedish and several other languages I will argue that such a solution is unlikely to be correct, and that the English and Swedish facts are better explained by referring to available syntactic constructions. My conclusion is that in a cross-linguistic perspective restrictions on subject extraction must be regarded as a very heterogeneous phenomenon, and in order to explain the empirical data I will suggest a number of competing motivations related to the Accessibility Hierarchy, argument linking and syntactic templates.

Cited by 1

The Complementizer Phase

Panagiōtidēs, Phoibos 1973- · 2010

Abstract This book draws together nine original investigations by leading linguists and promising young scholars on the syntax of complementisers (eg that in She said that she would) and their phrases. The chapters are divided into two parts, each of which highlights aspects of the behaviour and function of complementisers. The first part looks at how and when subjects, or parts of subjects, can and cannot move outside their canonical position in a sentence. Each chapter examines and compares the relevance of a number of syntactic factors in languages such as English, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Brazilian Portuguese, and Bavarian. In the second part, the focus turns to the nature and function of complementisers themselves, with discussions drawing on evidence from Italian, Italian dialects, Hebrew, and Dutch.

Cited by 18

Complementizer‐Trace Effects

David Pesetsky · The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Syntax, Second Edition · 2017

Abstract Perlmutter observed that English wh ‐movement obeys a puzzling constraint: an asymmetry between subject extraction and non‐subject extraction that interacts with the complementizer system. While wh ‐extraction of a non‐subject from a finite embedded clause is compatible with the presence or absence of the word that introducing the clause, extraction of the subject is possible only when that is omitted: a. ✓ Who do you think that Sue met ____?/ ✓ Who do you think Sue met ____? b. * Who do you think that ____ met Sue?/ ✓ Who do you think ____ met Sue? The effect has come to be known as the “ that‐ trace effect,” a member of a family of possibly broader sets of phenomena, all called “complementizer‐trace effects.” A strong poverty of the stimulus argument makes it clear that these phenomena are rooted in innate properties of human language. The discovery of these effects in multiple diverse and unrelated languages reinforces this conclusion, especially when coupled with the availability of independently supported explanations for the absence of similar effects in other specific languages. On the other hand, quite distinct accounts have been offered for complementizer‐trace effects, and there is no consensus yet as to which of these approaches is most likely to prove correct. Linear accounts have been proposed that specifically bar extraction from positions right‐adjacent to elements of the complementizer system; these accounts are supported by claimed interactions with the presence/absence of prosodic boundaries between the two. Alternative structure‐based accounts that have proved influential include structural locality requirements on extraction sites that occupy particular syntactic positions – as well as proposals that take an opposite approach, banning movement that is too local. Thus, although the importance of complementizer‐trace effects for linguistic theory is clear, the deeper source of these effects remains a matter of controversy.

Cited by 53

Before the complementizer

Silvio Cruschina, Eva‐Maria Remberger · Linguistik aktuell · 2017

Abstract In this paper we investigate the distributional, morphosyntactic, and semantic properties of a particular construction found in Romance, as well as in other languages such as English. This construction involves a class of elements that appear in sentence-initial position and that are followed by a complementizer introducing a root clause (a CP in generativist terms). This class may comprise underived attributes (adjectives) and derived attributes (adverbs), depending on the specific language. We claim that these adverbial constructions, as a result of grammaticalization, can be analysed as structurally equivalent to other constructions with similar speaker-oriented meanings, such as quotative and reportative constructions. A further or alternative process of grammaticalization, instead, has yielded new adverbial forms which morphologically include the complementizer.

Cited by 18Open access

Chapter 10. Complementizer agreement

Linguistik aktuell · 2010

Frisian belongs to the set of Germanic languages that show agreement between the complementizer and the subject, albeit in a very modest way. This paper compares two approaches to the nature of agreeing complementizers: a clitic analysis and an inflection analysis. Arguments are presented for the latter. Within the context of a more general theory of agreement, we discuss the nature of the dependency relation between the complementizer and the subject, claiming that it involves a limited form of incorporation of the subject into the complementizer. This analysis also makes an agreement approach to pro-drop in Frisian feasible. Finally we demonstrate that Frisian belongs to the subset of complementizer languages that have double agreement forms, i.e. the forms for non-inverted and inverted verbs are not entirely identical.

Cited by 1

Complementizer agreement (in Bavarian)

Eric Fuß · Linguistik aktuell · 2014

In recent minimalist work, it has been argued that C-agreement provides conclusive support for the following theoretical hypotheses (cf. Carstens 2003; van Koppen 2005; Haegeman & van Koppen 2012): (i) C hosts a separate set of phi-features, a parametric choice possibly linked to the V2 property; (ii) feature checking/valuation is accomplished under (closest) c-command (i.e. by the operation Agree, cf. Chomsky 2000 and subsequent work). This paper reviews the significance of C-agreement for syntactic theory and argues that certain systematic asymmetries between regular verbal agreement and complementizer agreement suggest that the latter does not result from operations that are part of narrow syntax. The case is based on the observation that at least in some Germanic varieties (most notably Bavarian), the realization of inflectional features in the C-domain is sensitive to adjacency effects and deletion of the finite verb in right node raising and comparatives. The fact that C may not carry inflection when the finite verb has been elided is taken to suggest that complementizer agreement does not involve a dependency between C and the subject, but rather between C and the finite verb (i.e. T). More precisely, it is argued that inflectional features present in the C-domain are added post-syntactically via a process of feature insertion (cf. e.g. Embick 1997; Embick & Noyer 2001; Harbour 2003) that creates a copy of T’s (valued) f-set. It will then be shown that this account can also capture phenomena like first conjunct agreement (FCA) and external possessor agreement, which are often presented as crucial evidence of the syntactic nature of complementizer agreement (cf. van Koppen 2005; Haegeman & van Koppen 2012).

Cited by 7

Complementizer Deletion in Italian

Alessandra Giorgi, Fabio Pianesi · 2004

Abstract The purpose of this chapter is to shed light on a phenomenon of Italian, which seems to have several interesting connections with issues in morphology, morph syntax and semantics-namely, Complementizer Deletion. Our main tenet is that so-called Complementizer “Deletion” is no deletion at all, nor is it movement of the verb to a complementizer position; it is simply an instance of the familiar V-to-Agr of Italian. More precisely, when CD is available Agr has peculiar properties due to the morph syntactic environment in which it is realized, which license a structure with no overt complementizer.

Cited by 60

Shì as a Complementizer

Zhaole Yang · Journal of Chinese linguistics · 2024

In this article, it is argued that a purely functional and semantically bleached shì in Mandarin could in many contexts be best analyzed as a complementizer. As such, i t is comparable to English that and functions as an (optional) introducer of the clausal arguments. Our survey shows that the morpheme shì as a complementizer occurs after quite a number of clause introducing operators, for instance, epistemic modals, clausal adverbs, clausal conjunctions, and verbs taking clausal objects like psych verbs and speech act verbs. Like in some other languages, e.g., the West African language Twi and Dutch, the complementizer can merge with a preceding element and the two elements are turned into one frozen combination involving reanalysis and constituency rebracketing . We argue that Mandarin shì has gone through similar developments as complementizer in many frozen combinations such as shuōshì . As a piece of additional evidence, we find that in Gangou dialect, a Mandarin variant, shì can also take on a complementizer function. In the end, based on the fact that shì is used as a demonstrative pronoun in Pre Qin times, we argue that Mandarin indeed has complementizers from two different sources out of the five major sources across languages listed by Chappell (2017), i.e., shuō , the complementizer (as argued by many) originally from a verb of saying, and shì , originally a demonstrative.

Cited by 0

Complementizer variation, multiple verbs

Doko, Jeanne, Koutouan, Evelyne, Jarvis, Rebecca et al. · California Digital Library · 2021

Eliciting constructions with multiple verbs (e.g. 'I know how to X'), complementizers in embedded imperatives ('I told her to X'), adjectives.

Cited by 0Open access

Grammatical elicitation: Complementizer agreement

Kipkoech, Linus, Bossi, Madeline · California Digital Library · 2021

One .mp4 file and one .pdf file. Elicitation of different contexts with and without complementizer agreement. Partial complementizer agreement paradigm for "hear" and "tell".

Cited by 0Open access

Complementizer Distribution in Sinhala

M. G. L. Ananda · Vidyodaya Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences · 2019

The extensive amount of empirical studies and consequent theorizing associated with the complementizer show the prominence attached to this functional category over the last few decades. Its evolution from an underdetermined status to a 'core functional category' is evident in its syntactic anchoring as a Phase in the current Minimalist approaches. Concurrently with these developments, there have been Cartographic approaches that have attempted to project the complementizer in a different perspective. However, both these approaches, the Minimalist and the Cartographic, have maintained their distinctiveness thus showing less potential for convergence. In this paper I attempt to incorporate Rizzi's (1997) Left Periphery analysis into the Generative framework with evidence from complementizer distribution in Sinhala.

Cited by 1Open access

Complementizer Agreement in Najdi Arabic

Robert Eugene Lewis · KU ScholarWorks (The University of Kansas) · 2013

This thesis proposes an analysis to account for complementizer agreement in Najdi Arabic. I motivate the clause structure of the left periphery following a cartographical approach initiated by Rizzi (1997, 1999), by which the placement of complementizers is considered with respect to topics and foci. I conclude that there are two distinct positions for the complementizers in, illi, and itha, with the complementizers in and illi, surfacing in Force0. Only the complementizer in allows agreement to surface. I then turn to an investigation of the effects of topicalization, wh-extraction, and focus on complementizer agreement. I also investigate how tense and aspect interact with complementizer agreement, and discuss what coordinated subjects tell us about the nature of complementizer agreement. Given the facts that I find for complementizer agreement and A' movements, as well as the interaction between tense and aspect and complementizer agreement, I propose a probe-for-closest-goal analysis for complementizer agreement in Najdi along the line of present analyses for complementizer agreement in West Germanic dialects: Carstens (2003) and Haegeman and van Koppen (2012). Specifically, the complementizer has an uninterpretable finiteness feature that must be licensed by either a subject with an interpretable finiteness feature or by an auxiliary/verb moving to Fin0, following Pesetsky and Torrego (2001). Furthermore, in this thesis, I expand a typology of complementizer agreement to include Najdi Arabic (Semitic), making direct comparison to complementizer agreement in West Germanic languages (Germanic).

Cited by 18Open access