The Functional Motivations of Complement That-Clauses
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_misc/mj.199811010Abstract
The aim of this paper is to reveal a few basic principles which constitute the essential logic of the English system of complementation. That-clauses will be the main focus of attention, although frequent reference will be made to the non-finite forms of complementation, especially to complementation by infinitives. I will draw on well-established research by Bresnan (1972), Riddle (1975), Rudanko (1984), Noonan (1985), Beukema and Verspoor (1990), and Givón (1993), in an attempt to integrate them all into a coherent whole. Such an integration will show up “the profoundly non-arbitrary nature of the coding relation between grammar and meaning” (Givón 1993: 2.24), or; in other words, the functional or even logical motivations of the form of clausal complements in English.
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Copyright (c) 1998 Juan Carlos Acuña Fariña
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