Cover not available
Part of
Constraints on Language Variation and Change in Complex Multilingual Contact Settings
Edited by Bertus van Rooy and Haidee Kotze
[Contact Language Library 60] 2024
► pp. 87–119

Chapter 4
Investigating the complementiser that in the verb complementation of Black South African English

| North-West University

This chapter explores the constraints that play a role in Black South African English (BSAfE) as a second-language (L2) variety of English in terms of the that/Ø-alternation in the verb complementation patterns of BSAfE. Previous research suggests that cross-linguistic influence (CLI) has a significant effect on this feature in BSAfE. This chapter aims to determine how CLI relates to other psycholinguistic and sociocognitive constraints. While BSAfE as an L2 variety demonstrates a lower rate of Ø-complementation than the first-language variety (L1), the findings of this study suggest that the importance of CLI may have been overstated in the literature, and shared constraints operate in both varieties in similar ways.

Keywords: that/Ø-alternation, verb complementation, Black South African English (BSAfE), second-language English (L2 English), White South African English (WSAfE), first-language English (L1 English), psycholinguistic constraints, sociocognitive constraints, cross-linguistic influence (CLI)
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The that/Ø-alternation and constrained language production
  • 3.Variables conditioning the that/Ø-alternation
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Corpora
    • 4.2Data extraction and coding
    • 4.3Statistical analysis
  • 5.Discussion of findings
    • 5.1Overall frequencies of the that- and Ø-complementisers across corpora
    • 5.2Factors that condition the that/Ø-alternation in BSAfE and WSAfE
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 20 June 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/coll.60.04par
References
Bernaisch, Tobias, Gries, Stefan Th., & Mukherjee, Joybrato
(2014) The dative alternation in South Asian English(es): Modelling predictors and predicting prototypes. English World-Wide, 35(1), 7–31. DOI logo Google Scholar
Bialystok, Ellen
(2009) Bilingualism: The good, the bad, and the indifferent. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12(1), 3–11. DOI logo Google Scholar
Bialystok, Ellen, Craik, Fergus, & Luk, Gigi
(2008) Cognitive control and lexical access in younger and older bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34(4), 859–873. DOI logo Google Scholar
Biber, Douglas
(1999) A register perspective on grammar and discourse: Variability in the form and use of English complement clauses. Discourse Studies, 1(2), 131–150. DOI logo Google Scholar
Biber, Douglas, Johansson, Stig, Leech, Geoffrey, Conrad, Susan, & Finegan, Edward
(1999) Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow: Pearson.Google Scholar
Botha, Yolande
(2013) Corpus evidence of anti-deletion in Black South African English noun phrases. English Today, 29(1), 16–21. DOI logo Google Scholar
Buthelezi, Qedusizi
(1995) South African Black English. In Rajend Mesthrie (Ed.), Language and social history: Studies in South African sociolinguistics (pp. 242–250). Cape Town: David Philip.Google Scholar
Bybee, Joan
(2006) From usage to grammar: The mind’s response to repetition. Language, 82(4), 711–733. DOI logo Google Scholar
Croft, William
(2001) Radical construction grammar: Syntactic theory in typological perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logo Google Scholar
Davydova, Julia
(2012) Englishes in the Outer and Expanding Circles: A comparative study. World Englishes, 31(3), 366–385. DOI logo Google Scholar
De Klerk, Vivian
(2003) Towards a norm in South African Englishes: The case for Xhosa English. World Englishes, 22(4), 463–481. DOI logo Google Scholar
De Klerk, Vivian, & Gough, David
(2002) Black South African English. In Rajend Mesthrie (Ed.), Language in South Africa (pp. 356–378). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logo Google Scholar
De Sutter, Gert, & Lefer, Marie-Aude
(2020) On the need for a new research agenda for corpus-based translation studies: A multi-methodological, multifactorial and interdisciplinary approach. Perspectives, 28(1), 1–23. DOI logo Google Scholar
Deshors, Sandra C.
(2014) A case for a unified treatment of EFL and ESL: A multifactorial approach. English World-Wide, 35(3), 277–305. DOI logo Google Scholar
Deshors, Sandra C., & Gries, Stefan Th
(2016) Profiling verb complementation constructions across New Englishes: A two-step random forests analysis of ing vs. to complements. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 21(2), 192–218. DOI logo Google Scholar
Dor, Daniel
(2005) Toward a semantic account of that-deletion in English. Linguistics, 43(2), 345–382. DOI logo Google Scholar
Durham, Mercedes
(2011) I think (that) something’s missing: Complementizer deletion in nonnative e-mails. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 1(3), 421–445. DOI logo Google Scholar
Ellis, Nick C.
(2006) Language acquisition as rational contingency learning. Applied Linguistics, 27(1), 1–24. DOI logo Google Scholar
Ellis, Nick C., & Wulff, Stefanie
(2015) Usage-based approaches to SLA. In Bill van Patten, & Jessica Williams (Eds.), Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction (pp. 75–93). London: Routledge. DOI logo Google Scholar
Gilquin, Gaëtanelle, & Granger, Sylviane
(2011) From EFL to ESL: Evidence from the International Corpus of Learner English. In Joybrato Mukherjee, & Marianne Hundt (Eds.), Exploring second language varieties of English and learner Englishes: Bridging a paradigm gap (pp. 55–78). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Givón, Talmy
(1980) The binding hierarchy and the typology of complements. Studies in Language, 4(3), 333–377. DOI logo Google Scholar
Gries, Stefan Th
(2013) 50-something years of work on collocations: What is or should be next… International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 18(1), 137–165. DOI logo Google Scholar
(2007) Coll.analysis 3.2a: A program for R for Windows 2.x. 〈[URL]〉
Halliday, Michael A. K., & Martin, James R.
(1993) Writing science: Literacy and discursive power. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hernandez, Arturo E., Bates, Elizabeth A., & Avila, Luis X.
(1996) Processing across the language boundary: A cross-modal priming study of Spanish–English bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 22(4), 846–864. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hothorn, Torsten, Hornik, Kurt, & Zeileis, Achim
(2015) ctree: Conditional inference trees. The Comprehensive R Archive Network, 1–34. 〈[URL]〉
Hundt, Marianne, & Mair, Christian
(1999) “Agile” and “uptight” genres: The corpus-based approach to language change in progress. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 4(2), 221–242. DOI logo Google Scholar
Hundt, Marianne, & Mukherjee, Joybrato
(2011) Introduction: Bridging a paradigm gap. In Joybrato Mukherjee, & Marianne Hundt (Eds.), Exploring second language varieties of English and learner Englishes: Bridging a paradigm gap (pp. 1–6). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jaeger, T. Florian
(2005) Optional that indicates production difficulty: Evidence from disfluencies. In ISCA (Ed.), Proceedings of DiSS’05: Disfluency in spontaneous speech workshop (pp. 103–108). ISCA.Google Scholar
(2010) Redundancy and reduction: Speakers manage syntactic information density. Cognitive Psychology, 61(1), 23–62. DOI logo Google Scholar
Jeffery, Chris
(2003) On compiling a corpus of South African English. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 21(4), 341–344. DOI logo Google Scholar
Kachru, Braj B.
(1992) Models for non-native Englishes. In Braj B. Kachru (Ed.), The other tongue: English across cultures (pp. 48–74). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Kearns, Kate
(2007) Epistemic verbs and zero complementizer. English Language and Linguistics, 11(3), 475–505. DOI logo Google Scholar
Kilgarriff, Adam, Baisa, Vít, Bušta, Jan, Jakubíček, Miloš, Kovář, Vojtěch, Michelfeit, Jan, Rychlý, Pavel, & Suchomel, Vít
(2014) The Sketch Engine: Ten years on. Lexicography, 1: 7–36. DOI logo Google Scholar
Kolbe-Hanna, Daniela, & Szmrecsanyi, Benedikt
(2015) Grammatical variation. In Douglas Biber, & Randi Reppen (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of English corpus linguistics (pp. 161–179). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logo Google Scholar
Kortmann, Bernd, & Szmrecsanyi, Benedikt
(2009) World Englishes between simplification and complexification. In Thomas Hoffmann, & Lucia Siebers (Eds.), World Englishes: Problems, properties and prospects. Selected papers from the 13th IAWE conference (pp. 265–285). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logo Google Scholar
Kotze, Haidee
(2022) Translation as constrained communication: Principles, concepts and methods. In Sylviane Granger, & Marie-Aude Lefer (Eds.), Extending the scope of corpus-based translation studies (pp. 67–98). London: Bloomsbury. DOI logo Google Scholar
Kruger, Haidee
(2017) A corpus-based study of the effects of editorial intervention: Implications for the features of translated language. In Gert de Sutter, Marie-Aude Lefer, & Isabelle Delaere (Eds.), Empirical translation studies: New methodological and theoretical traditions (pp. 113–156). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2019) That again: A multivariate analysis of the factors conditioning syntactic explicitness in translated English. Across Languages and Cultures, 20(1), 1–33. DOI logo Google Scholar
Kruger, Haidee, & Van Rooy, Bertus
(2016) Syntactic and pragmatic transfer effects in reported-speech constructions in three contact varieties of English influenced by Afrikaans. Language Sciences, 56, 118–131. DOI logo Google Scholar
(2017) Editorial practice and the progressive in Black South African English. World Englishes, 36(1), 20–41. DOI logo Google Scholar
Langacker, Ronald W.
(2008) Cognitive grammar: A basic introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logo Google Scholar
Levshina, Natalia
(2015) How to do linguistics with R: Data exploration and statistical analysis. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Makalela, Leketi
(2004) Making sense of BSAE for linguistic democracy in South Africa. World Englishes, 23(3), 355–366. DOI logo Google Scholar
(2013) Black South African English on the radio. World Englishes, 32(1), 93–107. DOI logo Google Scholar
Manchón, Rosa M.
(2013) Writing. In François Grosjean, & Ping Li (Eds.), The psycholinguistics of bilingualism (pp. 100–115). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Matras, Yaron
(2009) Language contact. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logo Google Scholar
McGregor, William B.
(1997) Semiotic grammar. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
(2013) Optionality in grammar and language use. Linguistics, 51(6), 1147–1204. DOI logo Google Scholar
Mesthrie, Rajend
(2006) Anti-deletions in an L2 grammar: A study of Black South African English mesolect. English World-Wide, 27(2), 111–145. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012) Deletions, antideletions and complexity theory, with special reference to Black South African and Singaporean Englishes. In Bernd Kortmann, & Benedikt Szmrecsanyi (Eds.), Linguistic complexity: Second language acquisition, indigenization, contact (pp. 90–100). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logo Google Scholar
Mesthrie, Rajend, & Bhatt, Rakesh M.
(2008) World Englishes: The study of new linguistic varieties. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mondorf, Britta
(2014) Apparently competing motivations in morphosyntactic variation. In Brian MacWhinney, Andrej Malchukov, & Edith Moravcsik (Eds.), Competing motivations in grammar and usage (pp. 209–228). Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logo Google Scholar
Mukherjee, Joybrato
(2010) Corpus-based insights into verb-complementational innovations in Indian English: Cases of nativised semantico-structural analogy. In Alexandra N. Lenz, & Albrecht Plewnia (Eds.), Grammar between norm and variation (pp. 219–241). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Mukherjee, Joybrato, & Gries, Stefan Th
(2009) Collostructional nativisation in New Englishes: Verb-construction associations in the International Corpus of English. English World-Wide, 30(1), 27–51. DOI logo Google Scholar
Mukherjee, Joybrato, & Hoffmann, Sebastian
(2006) Describing verb-complementation profiles of New Englishes: A pilot study of Indian English. English World-Wide, 27(2), 147–173. DOI logo Google Scholar
Parkinson, Jean, & Singh, Vanessa
(2007) Stability of features of Black South African English. Per Linguam: A Journal of Language Learning, 23(2), 54–67. DOI logo Google Scholar
Partridge, Maristi
(2011) A comparison of lexical specificity in the communication verbs of L1 English and TE student writing. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 29(2), 135–147. DOI logo Google Scholar
Quirk, Randolph, Greenbaum, Sidney, Leech, Geoffrey, & Svartvik, Jan
(1985) A comprehensive grammar of the English language. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Rohdenburg, Günter
(1996) Cognitive complexity and increased grammatical explicitness in English. Cognitive Linguistics, 7(2), 149–182. DOI logo Google Scholar
Schneider, Edgar W.
(2003) The dynamics of New Englishes: From identity construction to dialect birth. Language, 79(2), 233–281. DOI logo Google Scholar
(2007) Postcolonial English: Varieties around the world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logo Google Scholar
(2012) Exploring the interface between World Englishes and Second Language Acquisition – and implications for English as a Lingua Franca. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, 1(1), 57–91. DOI logo Google Scholar
Siebers, Lucia
(2012) Morphosyntax in Black South African English: A case study of Xhosa-English. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Tagliamonte, Sali, & Smith, Jennifer
(2005) No momentary fancy! The zero ‘complementizer’ in English dialects. English Language and Linguistics, 9(2), 289–309. DOI logo Google Scholar
Tagliamonte, Sali A., & Baayen, R. Harald
(2012) Models, forests, and trees of York English: Was/were variation as a case study for statistical practice. Language Variation and Change, 24(2), 135–178. DOI logo Google Scholar
Thompson, Sandra A., & Mulac, Anthony
(1991) The discourse conditions for the use of the complementizer that in conversational English. Journal of Pragmatics, 15(3), 237–251. DOI logo Google Scholar
Titlestad, Peter
(1996) English, the constitution and South Africa’s language future. In Vivian de Klerk (Ed.), Focus on South Africa (pp. 163–164). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, Michael
(1998) Introduction: A cognitive-functional perspective on language structure. In Michael Tomasello (Ed.), The new psychology of language: Cognitive and functional approaches to language structures (pp. vii–xxiii). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Torres Cacoullos, Rena, & Walker, James A.
(2009) On the persistence of grammar in discourse formulas: A variationist study of that. Linguistics, 47(1), 1–43. DOI logo Google Scholar
Treffers-Daller, Jeanine, & Sakel, Jeanette
(2012) Why transfer is a key aspect of language use and processing in bilinguals and L2-users. International Journal of Bilingualism, 16(1), 3–10. DOI logo Google Scholar
Van Rooy, Bertus
(2008) A multidimensional analysis of student writing in Black South African English. English World-Wide, 29(3), 268–305. DOI logo Google Scholar
(2013) Corpus linguistic work on Black South African English. English Today, 29(1), 10–15. DOI logo Google Scholar
(2014) Convergence and endonormativity at Phase 4 of the Dynamic Model. In Sarah Buschfeld, Thomas Hoffmann, Magnus Huber, & Alexander Kautzsch (Eds.), The evolution of Englishes: The Dynamic Model and beyond (pp. 21–38). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logo Google Scholar
Van Rooy, Bertus, & Kruger, Haidee
(2016) Faktore wat die weglating van die Afrikaanse onderskikker dat bepaal. [Factors that determine the omission of the Afrikaans complementiser dat ‘that’.] Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe, 56(1), 102–116. DOI logo Google Scholar
Van Rooy, Bertus, Terblanche, Lize, Haase, Christoph, & Schmied, Josef
(2010) Register differentiation in East African English: A multidimensional study. English World-Wide, 31(3), 311–349. DOI logo Google Scholar
Van Rooy, Bertus, & Van Huyssteen, Gerhard B.
(2000) The vowels of BSAE: Current knowledge and future prospects. South African Journal of Linguistics, 18(Supplement 38), 15–33. DOI logo Google Scholar
Velupillai, Viveka
(2021) The typology of pidgin and creole languages. In Umberto Ansaldo, & Miriam Meyerhoff (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of pidgin and creole languages (pp. 384–403). London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Williams, Jessica
(1987) Non-native varieties of English: A special case of language acquisition. English World-Wide, 8(2), 161–199. DOI logo Google Scholar
Wulff, Stefanie
(2016) A friendly conspiracy of input, L1, and processing demands: That-variation in German and Spanish learner language. In Lourdes Ortega, Andrea E. Tyler, Hae In Park, & Mariko Uno (Eds.), The usage-based study of language learning and multilingualism (pp. 115–136). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Wulff, Stefanie, Gries, Stefan Th., & Lester, Nicholas
(2018) Optional that in complementation by German and Spanish learners. In Andrea Tyler, Lihong Huang, & Hana Jan (Eds.), What is applied cognitive linguistics? Answers from current SLA research (pp. 99–120). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logo Google Scholar
Wulff, Stefanie, Lester, Nicholas, & Martinez-Garcia, Maria T.
(2014) That-variation in German and Spanish L2 English. Language and Cognition, 6(2), 271–299. DOI logo Google Scholar