Chapter 7
Syntax: complex sentences
Please consider the two complex ASL sentences in (a) and (b). One of the sentences is ungrammatical. Which one? Motivate your answer.
index 3a slap 3b s-u-s-a-n, index 3b tell mother, index 3a.
‘He slapped Susan and she told her mother.’
yesterday index 1 decide christmas 1 visit 3a brother index 1.
‘Yesterday I decided to visit my brother at Christmas.’
Sentence (a) consists of two coordinated clauses. Consequently, the copied index 3a, which refers to the subject of the first clause, is not allowed at the end of the sentence (it could, however, follow the fingerspelled name ‘s-u-s-a-n’). The sentence is therefore ungrammatical. Sentence (b), on the other hand, contains an embedded clause (complement clause) and, therefore, the index 1, which refers to the subject of the main clause, can appear at the end of the complex sentence.