[Lingtyp] what is designated by a complement clause

[Kasper Boye]

Dear Christian,

Thank you for taking up this issue! My response below concerns your original question, which I believe is a very important one: “Does anyone know of a generally applicable criterion or even a language-independent test frame which enables me to determine whether a given dependent clause designates a second-order or a third-order entity? Or are there contexts which are indeterminate in principle or where the distinction does not apply?”

As I understand the distinction, it basically pertains to meaning substance rather than structure (to allude to the old structuralist distinction), and different languages (and different constructions in individual languages) may carve it in different ways (or not at all). I have argued that the central diagnostic feature is that only propositions/third-order entities can be epistemically evaluated. That is, only propositions/third-order entities can be modified by means of evidential or epistemic modal modifiers, and only propositions/third-order entities can be arguments of epistemic predicates.

I attach a preprint of my most recent publication on the distinction. I argue that the distinction is significant for understanding a number of linguistic contrast, not only contrasts pertaining to complement clauses. I also suggest a cognitive-representational analysis of the distinction in terms of referentiality (as an alternative to the referential-denotational analyses that dominate the literature, including the functionalist literature).

The reference is:
Boye, K. 2023. Propositions and States-of-Affairs: A cognitive linguistic approach. J.M. Hartmann & A. Wöllstein (eds). Propositionale Argumente im Sprachvergelich / Propositional Arguments in Cross-Linguistic Research. Studien zur Deuschen Sprache 84. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto Verlag. 85-114.

With best wishes,
Kasper

Fra: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> På vegne af Lixin Jin
Sendt: 9. maj 2023 19:01
Til: Christian Lehmann <christian.lehmann at uni-erfurt.de>; lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
Emne: [Lingtyp] 回复: 回复: what is designated by a complement claus


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Thanks! If the complement is a valency, then I have no problem with it. Thanks again!

lixin
________________________________
发件人: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org>> 代表 Christian Lehmann <christian.lehmann at uni-erfurt.de<mailto:christian.lehmann at uni-erfurt.de>>
发送时间: 2023年5月9日 18:24
收件人: lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org> <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>>
主题: Re: [Lingtyp] 回复: what is designated by a complement claus

Am 09.05.23 um 18:17 schrieb Lixin Jin:

Thank you, Sir! Sorry, maybe there was a problem with my formulation. I meant that both attributive and adverbial have operational definitions, for example, attributive is a modifier of a noun, and adverbial is a modifier of a verb. What about complements?
I follow the definition given in Peter H. Matthews's book on Syntax: A complement is a dependent provided for in the valency of its head. The head is most often thought to be a verb, but can be anything that has valency.
Neither this definition nor the ones mentioned by you are operational. The criteria for the analysis of a dependency relation as a complement relation (i.e. the criteria for valency), as well as for its analysis as a modifying relation, are a different problem, also treated by Matthews.
--

Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann
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99092 Erfurt
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Tel.:

+49/361/2113417

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christianw_lehmann at arcor.de<mailto:christianw_lehmann at arcor.de>

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