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Article published In:
Variation in C: Comparative approaches to the Complementizer Phrase
Edited by Jacopo Garzonio and Silvia Rossi
[Linguistic Variation 18:2] 2018
► pp. 336–358

Speaker-oriented syntax and root clause complementizers

| University of Vienna
| University of Vienna

The object of study of this paper is a Romance construction characterized by the presence of the complementizer in root clauses and by an evidential or epistemic meaning (i.e. C-constructions). In these structures, the complementizer is preceded by a functional element that morphologically coincides with an adjective or an adverb. From a morphosyntactic viewpoint, we show that these structures are monoclausal and that the epistemic or evidential item preceding the complementizer has undergone a process of grammaticalization becoming a functional element. As for their use and interpretation, we describe their primary semantic meaning, as well as their pragmatic extensions and functions, which involve subjectification and intersubjectivity. We finally propose a syntactic configuration that can account for C-constructions and their properties in the syntax representation. This configuration involves the assumption of a projection – in fact, a set of projections – above ForceP which encode speaker-oriented and pragmatic features (e.g. evaluative, evidential, epistemic values).

Keywords: evidential, epistemic, complementizer, speech act phrase, sentience domain, emphasis, Romance, left periphery, adverbs, subjectification, intersubjectivity
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Monoclausality and root complementation
    • 2.1Against the copula-omission analysis
    • 2.2Syntactic distribution and the position of the complementizer
  • 3.The functional element preceding the complementizer
    • 3.1Subjective vs. objective readings
    • 3.2Beyond subjectivity: The interpretation of C-constructions with an anaphoric CP
  • 4.Discourse-oriented syntax and emphasis
  • 5.Conclusions and final remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 1 February 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.16009.cru
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