Degrees of clause integration: from endotactic to exotactic subordination in Dutch

Abstract

This article presents a fine-grained syntactic categorization of Dutch subordinating conjunctions, both simple and phrasal. By means of a hierarchical set of formal criteria, this article provides a detailed description of the syntactic behavior of 87 conjunctions with a total of 154 different readings. These formal criteria test the degree of dependence on the main clause predicator. The presence or absence of proportionality with paradigms of proforms is introduced as a fundamental criterion for syntactic analysis (Section 2). This concept is further refined by distinguishing between external and internal proportionality (Section 3). The possibility of clefting the subordinate clause is applied as a syntagmatic criterion (Section 4) and correlated with the proportionality criteria (Section 5). The next step examines the possibility of fronting the subordinate clause (Section 6) and its relation to the various clefting types (Section 7). Finally, the different correlation results are integrated into a hierarchically structured general overview (Section 8). In the epilogue, a first attempt is made at mapping the syntactic categorization elaborated in the body of the article onto the more general (semantic and functional) typologies of clause integration presented in the literature by different authors. This comparison wants to stress the general methodological applicability of the approach presented (Section 9).