Chapter published in:
Changing Structures: Studies in constructions and complementationEdited by Mark Kaunisto, Mikko Höglund and Paul Rickman
[Studies in Language Companion Series 195] 2018
► pp. 129–149
The use of optional complement markers in present-day English
The role of passivization and other complexity factors
Günter Rohdenburg | University of Paderborn
This paper reports on the results of a corpus-based study exploring several major types of omissible complement clause markers. Throughout, the distribution of rival variants with or without these markers is accounted for in terms of the Complexity Principle correlating processing complexity and grammatical explicitness. The focus is on the use of passivized matrix verbs as well as other complexity factors in the active, which favour the more explicit variants containing the function words in question. At the same time, the paper registers, wherever practical and instructive, any parallels and differences between British and American English. In most cases, the variation phenomena in question are the result of ongoing developments either introducing or reducing the use of the relevant function words.
Keywords: complement markers, variation, corpus linguistics, Complexity Principle, passivization, (in)transitive complement verbs
Published online: 22 May 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.195.08roh
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.195.08roh
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Cited by
Cited by 3 other publications
BERG, THOMAS, TIM ZINGLER & ARNE LOHMANN
García‐Castro, Laura
Kaunisto, Mark & Juhani Rudanko
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 05 april 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.