The complementiser system in spoken English
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Andrew Radford
Abstract
This paper looks at the use of complementisers (especially indicative that) in the contemporary spoken English of live unscripted radio and TV broadcasts. Descriptive grammars of English generally claim that indicative that is restricted to occurring in C1/Complementiser-First structures where the complementiser is the first word in a declarative subordinate clause. However, I report a wide range of other structures containing indicative that occurring in spoken English (including interrogative C1 structures), together with a wide range of C2/Complementiser-Second structures. I note that C2 (but not C1) structures occur in root clauses and conclude that (for speakers who produce such structures), that can lexicalise any head on the periphery of a finite clause which is licensed by a superordinate constituent. I briefly explore possible psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic factors which may have shaped complementiser use. Keywords: broadcast English; cartographic analysis; complementisers; root clause complementisers; wh-clauses
Abstract
This paper looks at the use of complementisers (especially indicative that) in the contemporary spoken English of live unscripted radio and TV broadcasts. Descriptive grammars of English generally claim that indicative that is restricted to occurring in C1/Complementiser-First structures where the complementiser is the first word in a declarative subordinate clause. However, I report a wide range of other structures containing indicative that occurring in spoken English (including interrogative C1 structures), together with a wide range of C2/Complementiser-Second structures. I note that C2 (but not C1) structures occur in root clauses and conclude that (for speakers who produce such structures), that can lexicalise any head on the periphery of a finite clause which is licensed by a superordinate constituent. I briefly explore possible psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic factors which may have shaped complementiser use. Keywords: broadcast English; cartographic analysis; complementisers; root clause complementisers; wh-clauses
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Information structure, agreement and CP 1
- The complementiser system in spoken English 11
- ‘Phasing’ contrast at the interfaces 55
- The alternation between improper indirect questions and DPs containing a restrictive relative 83
- Referentiality in Spanish CPs 117
- Binding at the syntax-information structure interface 141
- Deriving “wh-in-situ” through movement in Brazilian Portuguese 175
- On ‘focus movement’ in Italian 193
- Clause-typing by [2] – the loss of the 2nd person pronoun du 'you' in Dutch, Frisian and Limburgian dialects 217
- Degree phrase raising in relative clauses 255
- Low, high and higher applicatives 275
- On richness of tense and verb movement in Brazilian Portuguese 297
- Vocalic adjustments under positional markedness in Catalan and other Romance languages 319
- On sloppy readings, ellipsis and pronouns 337
- Index 371
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Information structure, agreement and CP 1
- The complementiser system in spoken English 11
- ‘Phasing’ contrast at the interfaces 55
- The alternation between improper indirect questions and DPs containing a restrictive relative 83
- Referentiality in Spanish CPs 117
- Binding at the syntax-information structure interface 141
- Deriving “wh-in-situ” through movement in Brazilian Portuguese 175
- On ‘focus movement’ in Italian 193
- Clause-typing by [2] – the loss of the 2nd person pronoun du 'you' in Dutch, Frisian and Limburgian dialects 217
- Degree phrase raising in relative clauses 255
- Low, high and higher applicatives 275
- On richness of tense and verb movement in Brazilian Portuguese 297
- Vocalic adjustments under positional markedness in Catalan and other Romance languages 319
- On sloppy readings, ellipsis and pronouns 337
- Index 371
