1. Lecture 4: The Complementiser System
Syntax
Lecture 4:
The Complementiser System

2. Complementisers
Complementisers are words which introduce subordinate clauses:
I know that [he’s mad]
I wonder if [you’ve heard]
I was hoping for [it to be sunny]
Unlike other subordinating particles, they always precede the subordinate clause:
John left though he didn’t want to
John left, he didn’t want to though
* I know he’s mad that

3. Complementisers and X-bar
If X-bar theory applies to everything:
Complementisers are heads
They project a ‘complementiser phrase’
They have complements
They have specifiers

4. The complementiser as the head
Clauses differ in force
Some make statements
Some ask questions
The force of the sentence is often determined by the complementiser:
He stated that I was right
I asked if I was right

5. Where is the CP in the clause?
It is not part of the IP:
All the positions in the IP are taken
Specifier = subject
Head = inflection
Complement = VP
CP is independent of IP:
I wonder if [I’m not totally sane] and [he’s not totally mad]
They say that he’s mad. But if [so], then so am I

6. Where is the CP in the clause?
Complementisers form a constituent with the clause:
This shows [that he is mad] and [that I’m not]
They say [that I’m mad] but I don’t believe [it]
* They say [that I’m mad] but I don’t believe that [it]
It replaces C + IP, not just IP

7. IP as complement of complementiser
Complements are phrases that always follow heads
IP is a phrase that always follows the complementiser
Functional heads select for a single complement
Complementisers only ever precede IPs

8. Features of the Complementiser
Complementisers can be declarative and interrogative:
+wh = interrogative = if
-wh = declarative = that
Complementisers can also be distinguished in terms of what kind of clause they introduce
I know [that he disappeared] finite clause
I long [for him to disappear] infinitival clause

9. Features of the Complementiser
So what about this?

10. Whether
Whether can be used to introduce non-finite interrogatives clauses:
He wondered whether [to stay in bed]
However, whether is unlike a complementiser:
It can introduce both finite and non-finite clauses
He wondered whether [he should stay in bed]

11. Whether
It can introduce a clause with a ‘missing subject’
* I am anxious for [to leave]
It can be coordinated with an interrogative phrase
He wondered whether and (if so) when to tell her
*he wondered if and (if so) when to tell her
This suggest that whether is not a complementiser but more like an interrogative phrase (more on these later)

12. Obligatory nature of the complementiser
If the complementiser provides the force of the sentence, it should always be present.
Sometimes there is no complementiser
I think that he fled
I think he fled
It seems that we have to suppose an invisible complementiser:
I think [CP e [IP he fled]]

13. Evidence for the empty complementiser (argument 1)
If there were no complementiser there would be no CP
So verbs with clausal complements could take IP or CP complements
I think [CP that he fled]
I think [IP he fled]
But what a verb takes as its complement is a lexical matter – unpredictable/idiosyncratic

14. Evidence for the empty complementiser (argument 1)
But EVERY verb which takes CP complement takes IP complements – so this is predictable
I think/suppose/said/know/feel/... (that) he fled
If the complementiser can be empty:
all these verbs take only CP complements
I think [CP that/e he fled]
whether the complementiser is pronounced or not is an idiosyncratic fact about complementisers

15. Evidence for the empty complementiser (argument 2)
I said yesterday that he fled
I said that yesterday he fled
When a modifier is next to the verb, it modifies it – when it is separated from the verb, it modifies the following clause
I said yesterday he fled
This is ambiguous – but why?
If there is an empty complementiser it is easy to account for
I said yesterday e he fled
I said e yesterday he fled

16. Evidence for the empty complementiser (argument 3)
Certain questions involve a wh-phrase in front of the subject
I wonder [why he fled]
The subject is in the IP specifier position (like all other subjects)
The wh-phrase must therefore be outside the IP

17. Evidence for the empty complementiser (argument 3)
Wh-phrases are phrases – so they can’t be heads
A suitable position for a phrase which precedes the IP is the specifier of CP
If there is a CP, there must be a C – but this in empty in this case

18. Wh-movement
Many wh-phrases which appear in the specifier of CP have other functions inside the IP
Who did you meet object
Who did he say fled subject
When will you leave modifier

19. Wh-movement
These positions are always empty when there is a wh-phrase in CP specifier
* who did you meet him
* who did you say he fled
* when will you leave at 6 o’clock
This suggests that the wh-phrase starts in these positions and moves

20. Wh-movement
Wh-phrases start off in the position appropriate to their function
Object
Subject
Modifier
Then they move to the specifier of CP

21. Evidence in favour of wh-movement (argument 1)
Sometimes the wh-phrase does not move
You saw who!
He said who fled!
You will leave when!
These are called echo questions
They don’t have the same meaning as wh-questions with moved wh-phrases
But they do show that wh-phrases can occupy these positions

22. Evidence in favour of wh-movement (argument 2)
When ‘want’ is followed by ‘to’ they can be contracted into ‘wanna’
Who do you want to fight
Who do you wanna fight

23. Evidence in favour of wh-movement (argument 2)
But this is not always possible
Who do you want to fight Bill
* Who do you wanna fight Bill
The difference is in the function of the wh-phrase
Who do you want to fight who = object
You want to fight him
Who do you want to fight Bill who = subject
You want him to fight Bill

24. Evidence in favour of wh-movement (argument 2)
When there is a subject, it sits between ‘want’ and ‘to’
I want him to go
Obviously ‘want’ and ‘to’ cannot contract in this case
But the only way a wh-phrase at the beginning of a sentence can interfere between ‘want’ and ‘to’ is if it sits between then at some point
So it must have been in this position once, and then moved

25. Examples
These can contract

26. Examples
Then movement takes place
These can’t

27. Conclusion Complementisers introduce clauses
They determine the force of the sentence
They provide a position for wh-phrases to move to
This is not surprising as wh-phrases appear in questions and this is to do with the force of the sentence