Complementizer: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 21:18, 24 July 2024

More on this in the refgram
Syntax: Complementizer phrases

A complementizer is a word that starts a clause, like 󱛁󱚺 ꝡa or 󱚰󱛋󱚺 mä or 󱛁󱚴󱛋 ꝡë.

In Toaq, main clauses start with a complementizers in , whereas subordinate clauses start with complementizer in . The complementizers are:

Toaq complementizers
Type	Main clause	Subclause	Meaning
Declarative or wh-question	󱛁󱚺 ꝡa	󱛁󱚺󱛋 ꝡä	"that"
Yes-no question	󱚰󱚺 ma	󱚰󱛋󱚺 mä	"whether"
Degree question	󱚷󱚹󱛍󱛃 tıo	󱚷󱛋󱚹󱛍󱛃 tïo	"how (much)"
Restrictive relative clause		󱛁󱚴󱛋 ꝡë	"which"
Non-restrictive relative clause		󱚾󱛋󱚲 jü	"which"
Property / lambda clause		󱚼󱛋󱚺 lä	"λ"

Null complementizers

English doesn't really have an equivalent of 󱛁󱚺 ꝡa: you can't say something like *That I like this book. in the main clause. But in Toaq, it's perfectly normal to say 󱛁󱚺 󱚿󱛃 󱚾󱛊󱚹 󱚵󱛊󱚹 󱛘󱛄󱚲󱛍󱚴󱛙 󱛕 Ꝡa cho jí ní kue. The word 󱛁󱚺 ꝡa acts as a sentence fence.

Conversely, English allows for a "null complementizer" in a subclause: instead of I know that you like this book, you can say I know you like this book. In Toaq, this is not allowed: you must say 󱚶󱚲󱛍󱚺 󱚾󱛊󱚹 󱛔 󱛁󱚺󱛋 󱚿󱛃 󱚺󱛊󱚲󱛂 󱚵󱛊󱚹 󱛘󱛄󱚲󱛍󱚴󱛙 Dua jí, ꝡä cho súq ní kue. Only the declarative main-clause complementizer 󱛁󱚺 ꝡa is optional.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{refgram|syntax|complementizer phrases}}
-A '''complementizer''' is a word that starts a clause, like {{t|ꝡa}} or {{t|mä}} or {{t|ꝡë}}.
+A '''complementizer''' is a word that starts a clause, like {{d|ꝡa}} or {{d|mä}} or {{d|ꝡë}}.
 In Toaq, main clauses start with a complementizers in {{done|1}}, whereas subordinate clauses start with complementizer in {{done|3}}. The complementizers are:
@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 ! Type !! Main clause !! Subclause !! Meaning
 |-
-| Declarative or wh-question || {{t|ꝡa}} || {{t|ꝡä}} || "that"
+| Declarative or wh-question || {{d|ꝡa}} || {{d|ꝡä}} || "that"
 |-
-| Yes-no question || {{t|ma}} || {{t|mä}} || "whether"
+| Yes-no question || {{d|ma}} || {{d|mä}} || "whether"
 |-
-| Degree question || {{t|tıo}} || {{t|tïo}} || "how (much)"
+| Degree question || {{d|tıo}} || {{d|tïo}} || "how (much)"
 |-
-| Restrictive [[relative clause]] ||  || {{t|ꝡë}} || "which"
+| Restrictive [[relative clause]] ||  || {{d|ꝡë}} || "which"
 |-
-| Non-restrictive relative clause ||  || {{t|jü}} || "which"
+| Non-restrictive relative clause ||  || {{d|jü}} || "which"
 |-
-| [[Property]] / lambda clause ||  || {{t|lä}} || "λ"
+| [[Property]] / lambda clause ||  || {{d|lä}} || "λ"
 |}
 == Null complementizers ==
-English doesn't really have an equivalent of {{t|ꝡa}}: you can't say something like *''That I like this book.'' in the main clause. But in Toaq, it's perfectly normal to say {{t|Ꝡa cho jí ní kue.}} The word {{t|ꝡa}} acts as a [[sentence fence]].
+English doesn't really have an equivalent of {{d|ꝡa}}: you can't say something like *''That I like this book.'' in the main clause. But in Toaq, it's perfectly normal to say {{d|Ꝡa cho jí ní [kue].}} The word {{d|ꝡa}} acts as a [[sentence fence]].
-Conversely, English allows for a "null complementizer" in a subclause: instead of ''I know <u>that</u> you like this book'', you can say ''I know you like this book''. In Toaq, this is not allowed: you must say {{t|Dua jí, <u>ꝡä</u> cho súq ní kue}}. Only the declarative main-clause complementizer {{t|ꝡa}} is optional.
+Conversely, English allows for a "null complementizer" in a subclause: instead of ''I know <u>that</u> you like this book'', you can say ''I know you like this book''. In Toaq, this is not allowed: you must say {{d|Dua jí, ꝡä cho súq ní [kue]}}. Only the declarative main-clause complementizer {{d|ꝡa}} is optional.