Complement Clauses In English Research Articles

Transparency in the processing of temporal ambiguity: The case of embedded tense

We report the results of one acceptability rating study and two self-paced reading studies on the form-meaning mismatch in the interpretation of past-under-past in complement clauses in English. Across the three experiments, we find an off-line and on-line preference for the backward-shifted interpretation, in line with predictions of the structural approach to the ambiguity when assuming a processing preference for morphological transparent interpretation.

Testing two processing principles with respect to the extraction of elements out of complement clauses in English

The present article contrasts two processing principles, the Domain Minimization Principle (e.g. Hawkins 1999, 2004) and the Complexity Principle (e.g. Rohdenburg 1996, 2007b) in structures involving the extraction of postverbal elements out of (competing) complement clauses. The Domain Minimization Principle may be described as a processing tendency which consists in minimizing the size and complexity of various domains including the filler–gap domain in cases like the following:This is a problem (that) they had promised (that) they would tackle. By contrast, the Complexity Principle represents a correlation between processing complexity and grammatical explicitness. It stipulates that more explicit (and typically more bulky) constructional options are favoured in cognitively more complex environments.This article deals with two sets of rival complements. The behaviour of the first group of clausal alternatives is in line with Hawkins’ prediction, though incompatible with the Complexity Principle. However, there is an even larger group of complement pairs whose distribution inside and outside extraction contexts is predicted by the Complexity Principle but unaccounted for by Domain Minimization. Thus, in extraction contexts, the visible effects of the two antagonistic principles are found with virtually complementary ranges of complement types. The article concludes by attempting to account for the kind of division of labour observed between the two principles under scrutiny. It will be suggested among other things that, in English, the marked infinitive (on its own or with an associated NP) enjoys a privileged or target status in extraction contexts.

The Diachronic Change of Deontic Adjectival Complement Clauses in English.

The Diachronic Change of Deontic Adjectival Complement Clauses in English.

On the presence and absence of that in aphasia

Background: Deficits in the production of complex structures have been widely documented in non-fluent forms of aphasia. Nevertheless, the data available on fluent deficits are scarcer. In both cases, reduced complexity is attributed to syntactic factors. In the related field of syntactic theory, there exist a number of studies on the production of non-brain damaged (NBD) subjects which try to account for the existence of two alternative constructions in embedded complement clauses in English (as in I think that the situation will improve/I think the situation will improve). The absence of that in the embedded clauses of verbs like say, know or think in colloquial English is very frequent and this suggests that verbs of this type may select a clause lacking a complementiser phrase (CP) layer, namely tense phrase (TP). The presence of that is taken to be the result of insertion, which is triggered by cues associated to contextual factors like register.Aims: To compare the presence and absence of the complementiser that in the speech of English subjects diagnosed with aphasia with the same phenomenon in NBD subjects with the objective of clarifying the nature of the phenomenon of that-omission.Methods & Procedures: We carried out an analysis of spontaneous speech that included the performance of 200 individuals brought together by the AphasiaBank project. Two groups were included in the study, an experimental group comprising 100 individuals diagnosed as aphasic according to the standards of the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB), and a control group including 100 non-brain damaged control subjects ( NBDs).Outcomes & Results: This study shows that the asymmetries across populations (NBDs vs. subjects with aphasia) are restricted to the number of occurrences of subordinate clauses. NBD subjects produce more embeddings than subjects diagnosed with fluent aphasia (although they do produce embedded clauses and crucially prefer the “omission” option) and subjects with non-fluent aphasia.Conclusions: Our results confirm the findings on fluent aphasias as for the presence of deficits with complex constructions. These results may be regarded as evidence for the claim that TP is the default selection for the verbs analysed.

Iconicity in the Omission of to, for and that in Verb Complement Clauses in English

Iconicity in the Omission of to, for and that in Verb Complement Clauses in English

Complex subordinators derived from noun complement clauses: grammaticalization and paradigmaticity

In this article, we investigate the development of complex subordinators from noun complement clauses in English, basing ourselves on the analysis of synchronic data from the COBUILD corpus. We first present a breadth study of complex subordinators originating in “in + NP + that/of-clause”-syntagms and show how these align themselves with oppositions within the causal, temporal and comparative subordinator paradigms. We then offer an in-depth study of the cluster of strings “in (the) hope(s) that/of”, arguing that the subordinators they yield enter as marked members into the subparadigm of purposive conjunctions, which they semantically enrich through lexical and structural persistence.

The construal of objectivity in atemporal complement clauses in English

In Cognitive Grammar, the syntax of a complement clause construction reflects the particular construal imposed on its conceptual content. Differences in syntax reflect differences in construal. One such construal concerns perspective, which can be subjective or objective. A personal construction portrays the speaker's involvement in the complement event; thus it is construed as subjective. Subjectivity is the act of judging an event which is influenced by personal opinions. An impersonal construction portrays the speaker's distance from the complement event; thus it is construed as objective. Objectivity is the act of judging an event without being influenced by personal opinions. This paper explores the impact of objectivity on the syntactic realization of atemporal complement clauses. Impersonal constructions take various forms which represent different construals. One construal pertains to scope. A non-extra- posed construction signals a minimal range of content in describing a complement event. An extraposed construction signals a maximal range of content in describing a complement event. Another construal relates to profile. A non-raised construction profiles a whole complement event. A raised construction profiles the most salient entity in a complement event.

The construal of salience in atemporal complement clauses in English

In Cognitive Grammar, expressions differ in meaning depending on not only the entities they designate but also the construals employed to structure their conceived scenes. The syntax of an expression is a reflection of its conceptual organisation, and represents the specific construal of the scene it describes. In atemporal (non-finite) complementation, causative constructions involving two participants in object position can appear in two syntactic forms: bare infinitive as in She made them go or to-infinitive as in She forced them to go. The construal which brings about the syntactic difference between the two complement clauses pertains to salience. When the speaker wants to give the complement clause initial salience, he opts for the bare infinitive. By contrast, when the speaker wants to give the complement clause subject initial salience, he chooses the to-infinitive. In each case, the meaning of the construction is determined by the particular way the speaker structures its scene, whereas its distribution is governed by the semantic compatibility between its internal parts.

For‐to Complement Clauses in English: A Cognitive Grammar Analysis

Abstract This paper seeks to substantiate two fundamental claims of Cognitive Grammar (CG) with regard to for‐to complement clauses used in verbal complementation. One claim is that all linguistic elements posited in grammar are ascribed some kind of conceptual import. On the basis of this claim, the paper argues that for‐to has not only a syntactic function but also meaning of its own which conditions its behaviour. The other claim is that the syntax of an expression is a reflection of its conceptual organisation, which represents the specific construal imposed on its content. On the basis of this claim, the paper argues that to‐infinitive complement clauses represent a self‐related construal in the sense of reflecting the main clause subject's involvement in the complement event, and so implying his/her high degree of interest in its realisation. By contrast, for‐to complement clauses represent an other‐related construal in the sense of reflecting the main clause subject's distance from the complement event, and so implying his/her low degree of interest in its realisation.

The construal of atemporalisation in complement clauses in English

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The acquisition of finite complement clauses in English: A corpus-based analysis

This article examines the development of finite complement clauses in the speech of seven English-speaking children aged 1;2 to 5;2. It shows that in most of children’s complex utterances that seem to include a finite complement clause, the main clause does not express a full proposition; rather, it functions as an epistemic marker, attention getter, or marker of illocutionary force. The whole construction thus contains only a single proposition expressed by the apparent complement clause. As children grow older, some of the ‘‘main clauses’’ become more substantial and new complement-taking verbs emerge that occur with truly embedded complement clauses. However, since the use of these constructions is limited to only a few verbs, we argue that they are not yet licensed by a general schema or rule; rather, they are ‘‘constructional islands’’ organized around individual verbs.

The case of subject preceding –ing complement clauses in English

The case of subject preceding –ing complement clauses in English

Grammatical roles and relations By F. R. Palmer (review)

BOOK NOTICES 217 meaning' (90-115) that the distinction between utterance -type meaning and utterance-token meaning in pragmatics is important and offers a three-tiered theory of communication in which utterance-type meaning has a special place. In 'Does spoken language have sentences' (116-35), Jim Miller adduces that the evidence from spontaneous spoken language indicates that the clause and not the sentence is the primary unit of linguistic analysis. 'Grammaticalisation and social structure: Non-standard conjunction-formation in East Anglian English' (136-47) by Peter Trudgill discusses a specific form of grammaticalization process and its relation to the social structure of a small, isolated community of speakers. Bernard Comrie's 'German Perfekt and Präteritum: Speculations on meaning and interpretation ' (148-61) distinguishes semantic and pragmatic contributions to the overall interpretation process by discussing the differences between the two German forms, the simple past Präteritum (ich liebte ? loved') and the compound past Perfekt (ich hatte geliebt ? had loved'). In 'The possessed' (162-74), John Anderson looks at the two morphological processes of concord and rection, copying processes which are traditionally differentiated by the role ofthe trigger (the former involving the copying of a category value, the latter the copying of a noncategory value), especially with regard to possessives . R. M. W. Dixon's 'Complement clauses and complementation strategies' (175-220) discusses the semantic tasks which all languages have to perform and their manners of grammatically achieving them by looking specifically at complement strategies in Dyirbal (and complement clauses in English and Fijian). In the concluding 'Grammar and meaning' (221-49), John Lyons comments on issues which remain important to him and which link the volume's papers—the relationship between the grammatical structure of language and its determination by meaning ; whether or not semantics is a separate level of analysis; and whether the tripartite division (phonology , grammar, semantics) posited by linguists is reality or the result of theoretical and methodological decisions. [Leo Obrst, Boeing, Philadelphia.] Grammatical roles and relations. By F. R. Palmer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Pp. xv, 359. This excellent textbook explains in a clear and rigorous way some of the recent theoretical advances in our understanding ofgrammatical roles and relations, transitivity, valency-changing derivations, and the like. Palmer summarizes the literature and adds his own insights, which are often most instructive. The discussion is illustrated by a treasure trove of wellchosen examples (from over 130 languages), some from fairly obscure sources. There are nine chapters. After 'Introduction' (1-21), we get 'Roles and relations' (22-52), discussing agent and patient, different kinds of object, instrument , and the like. Then there is 'Accusative, ergative and agentive systems' (53-87), with discussion ofsplit-ergative systems, followed by 'Syntactic relations' (88-1 16), on the role of pivots in coordinate and subordinate constructions and such matters as 'dative subjects' . We then have an excellent discussion ofthe function and use of 'Passive' (117-41) (but lacking any mention of 'get'-type passives), and 'Passive: Related and problem issues' (142-75), discussing the use of passive markers as signals of a reflexive construction, and the role of middle (in the traditional sense). Applicatives are, oddly, discussed here, in relation to which argument in an applicative construction can become passive subject. There are then well-informed chapters on 'Antipassive' (176-200), including the role of antipassive in accusative languages, on 'Topic and inverse systems' (201-13), where by 'topic' P means Philippine-type focus systems, andon 'Causatives' (214-41). A glossary , a list of references together with the pages on which each is cited, and language and subject indexes round out the book. This book is particularly accessible since it steers clear of any of the current formalisms. P begins by saying that the volume 'will not contain a great deal of theoretical discussion' (1). In fact the whole book is theoretical; it is written in terms of what has recently come to be called basic linguistic theory, the theoretical paradigm which has been built up over the past 2,000 years and which is the basis for almost all grammatical descriptions. (The here-today-gonetomorrow formalists generally take one part of basic theory, blow it up a bit...

Infinitival copular complement clauses in English: explaining the predominance of passive matrix verbs

This article first provides empirical evidence from the 100-million-word British National corpus in support of earlier less well documented observations that infinitival copular complements occur much more often with passive matrix clauses (e.g. Towns were thought to be organic or haphazard creations until recently) than with active matrices (e.g. One might even have though him to be angry), and then addresses the pending question of why this should be so. A previous explanation has invoked the different word order of the passive construction versus that shared by the active construction and finite complements combined with the purported markedness of nonfinite constructions. The alternative explanation presented here is based on the fact that though finite complements and infinitives with active matrices share the same word order, their typical information structure is different, in that the subjects of the former can introduce new referents, while givenness' seems almost a necessary condition for the subjects of the latter. It is claimed that the typical information structure of active matrices plus infinitives makes the construction a dispreferred one, because it leads to redundancy in referential continuity and causes conflicts between candidates for sentence topic/theme status, disrupting the thematic progression of the text

Review of Mair (1990): Infinitival complement clauses in English – A study of syntax in discourse

Review of Mair (1990): Infinitival complement clauses in English – A study of syntax in discourse

On some contrasts between infinitival andthatcomplement clauses in English

On some contrasts between infinitival and<i>that</i>complement clauses in English