Producing filler-gap dependencies: structural priming evidence for two distinct types of combinatorial processes in production

A previous model of long-distance dependency production claims that speakers compose clause-taking verbs like believe and the complementizer of their complement clauses (that or the null complementizer) differently when there is a cross-clausal filler-gap dependency crossing the complementizer structure (e.g., Who did the breeder believe (that) the dog bit?) than when there is not (e.g., The breeder believed (that) the dog bit them.). This claim implicates two distinct structures headed by clause-taking verbs like believe. Under a certain assumption about the lexical boost effect, this model predicts that the lexical boost effect for the that priming occurs only when prime and target sentences both contain a cross-clausal filler-gap dependency or when neither does. In the current study, a computational model of structural priming implementing the core claims of the previous filler-gap dependency production model was built to show that this prediction coherently follows from the model. The prediction of the model was then tested in five recall based structural priming experiments. Speakers showed a larger complementizer priming when prime and target sentences share a clause-taking verb (i.e., the lexical boost effect). But the lexical boost effect was selective to when both prime and target sentences contained a cross-clausal filler-gap dependency (Experiment 3) and when neither did (Experiment 1). Critically, the lexical boost effect was absent when only either prime or target sentences contained a filler-gap dependency crossing the complementizer structure (Experiments 2, 4, and 5), confirming the prediction of the model.

Clausal embedding in Washo: Complementation vs. modification

This paper concerns clausal embedding in Washo (also spelled Washoe, Wáˑšiw), a highly endangered Hokan/isolate language spoken around Lake Tahoe in the United States. We argue that Washo offers evidence that both complementation and modification are available strategies for subordination, and in doing so contribute more generally to the ongoing debate about how clauses are embedded by attitude verbs. We observe that the embedding strategies of certain predicates in Washo follow from independent properties of clause types in the language. On the one hand, clauses embedded by presuppositional verbs come in the form of clausal nominalizations, which are selected as thematic internal arguments. The DP layer in these complements is responsible for encoding familiarity in a general sense (along the lines of Kastner 2015) both in these complement clauses as well as in other constructions in the language. On the other hand, clauses embedded by non-presuppositional verbs are not selected at all; they are instead adjunct modifiers, which follows from the fact that the attitude verbs they modify are always intransitive. This aspect of the analysis lends support to the property-analysis of ‘that’-clauses (e.g., Kratzer 2006; Moulton 2009; Elliott 2016), but only in certain instances of embedding. We argue that the Washo facts show that selection still plays a role for some verbs, contra theories that do away with it altogether (Elliott 2016), but selection cannot explain everything either, as non-presuppositional verbs are intransitive and do not select at all.

Negation as a predictor of clausal complement choice in World Englishes

Research on complementizer selection has shown that the presence of a negative particle in a subordinate complement clause influences complement choice, leading to a relatively higher proportion of finite complementation patterns by increasing the complexity of the syntactic environment. Studies have also shown that different types of negation, namely not- and no-negation, increase the tendency towards more explicit complementation options (Rohdenburg 2015). The current study focuses on the effect of not- and no-negation on the complementation profile of the verb regret, which allows variation between finite that/zero-complement clauses and nonfinite (S) -ing clauses. The GloWbE corpus was used to create a data set of more than 4,000 examples from 16 varieties of English. The results of the analysis support previous findings that the presence of a negative marker in the complement clause increases the preference for finite patterns, especially in L2 varieties of English. However, contrary to the expectations of this study, no-negation was found to have a stronger effect on complement choice than not-negation.

Embedded root phenomena and indirect speech reports

This article analyzes the occurrence of performative root phenomena in complement clauses. I show that the clauses that host this kind of phenomena have the same distribution as direct speech complements. I argue that the correspondence is based on the fact that, due to their rich syntactic left periphery, these embedded clauses convey speech acts. This assumption receives further support by the grammatical behavior of what I argue are the two major classes of verbs subordinating direct speech and ERP-hosting embedded clauses: locutionary and illocutionary embedding verbs. I analyze illocutionary verbs as bearing an abstract illocutionary predicate selecting either a propositional or a speech-act type, and locutionary verbs as ordinary relational predicates selecting a speech-act type. Taken together, these elements allow for a straightforward syntax-semantics interface and explain the differentiated behavior of root phenomena in complements to locutionary and illocutionary verbs.

Semantic polyfunctionality and constructional networks

This paper offers an analysis of insubordinate subjunctive complement clauses (ISCs) in Spanish and aims to contribute to the general debate in Construction Grammar on how to deal with a highly pragmatically specified surface form that expresses several meanings. We explore whether the meanings expressed by ISCs are encoded in the construction or can be derived via independently existing principles of pragmatic interpretation. The results of the analysis are represented in a constructional network.

Clause-sensitivity of Inflectional Morphology in L2 English

The Interface Hypothesis (Sorace, 2000) developed in line with the Minimalist theory of grammar (Chomsky, 1995 et seq.) supports the view of L2 acquisition that syntactic properties are acquired early while the acquisition of interface properties is delayed. One of the interface properties is inflectional morphology on English verbs, which involves subject-verb agreement at the syntax-morphology interface. Previous studies have revealed that for learners of L2 English, acquiring third person singular -s is harder than regular past -ed due to the absence of meaningless morphemes in L1. However, one question has been disregarded: Where in a clause are these morphemes inserted more successfully? Given that subordinate clauses are more complex than main clauses, this study examines the clause-sensitivity of L2 inflectional morphology. 44 Japanese university students learning English as L2 were asked to complete a grammaticality judgment test and write an essay about a specified topic. The learners’ inflection pattern was surveyed through the test scores and text analysis of the essays. Results show that -s tends to be omitted regardless of clause types, but -ed is omitted more frequently in complement clauses than main clauses. These are due to negative L1 transfer on L2 inflectional morphology and our findings imply the importance of clauses as meaningful units in L2 grammar instructions. Keywords: Clause-sensitivity, Inflectional morphology, L2 grammar instructions, The Interface Hypothesis.

Stance complement clauses controlled by verbs in academic research papers

This paper explores stance complement clauses in the genre of academic discourse, analysing stance complement clauses controlled by verbs in economics research articles written in English by non-native writers. Following Biber’s taxonomy (2006) of common lexico-grammatical features used for stance analyses, the results of the study show that epistemic verbs of certainty and likelihood are an important means of communicating knowledge in this genre and thus, form an inseparable part of academic research writing. Moreover, the study seeks to analyse the contrast between stance to-infinitives and stance that-clauses in the studied corpus. While stance that-clauses relate mainly to the category of certainty; on the contrary, stance to-infinitive clauses are consciously or subconsciously chosen to lessen the risk of a face-threatening act and typically refer to writers’ sensory experience (e.g. verbs such as seem, appear, etc.). The findings suggest that research papers from the field of economics demonstrate a clear preference for factive verbs over non-factive verbs.

Against complementizers

In this paper we investigate the syntax of complement clauses in some Romance and Germanic languages by focusing on word order asymmetries and extraction phenomena. We argue that complement clauses are relative clauses, as proposed in Manzini & Savoia (2003, 2011) and Kayne (2010). However, differently from the previous proposals, we claim that as in relative clauses (see Poletto & Sanfelici 2018a), the ‘complementizer’ partially spells out either the nominal element internal to the relative/complement clause, resulting thus into a raising derivation of the relative/complement clause, or the external nominal modified by the relative/complement clause itself, leading to a matching derivation. This difference in the raising vs. matching derivation accounts for a series of well-known asymmetries between some Romance and Germanic languages. In addition, we show that this proposal may be suitable to derive the different extraction patterns exhibited in ‘traditional’ relative clauses and complement clauses.