A number of recent analyses propose that so-called noun complement clauses should be analyzed as a type of relative clause. In this paper, I present a number of complications for any analysis that equates noun complement clauses to relative clauses, and conclude that this type of analysis is on the wrong track. I present cross-linguistic evidence showing that the syntactic behavior of noun complement clauses does not pattern with relative clauses. Patterns of complementizer choice and complementizer drop as well as patterns involving main clause phenomena and extraction differ in the two constructions, which I argue is unexpected under a relative clause analysis that involves operator movement. Instead I present an alternative analysis in which I propose that the referentiality of a noun complement clause is linked to its syntactic behavior. Following recent work, I claim that referential clauses have a syntactically truncated left-periphery, and this truncation can account for the lack of main clause phenomena in noun complement clauses. I argue that the truncation analysis is also able to accommodate complementizer data patterns more easily than relative clause analyses that appeal to operator movement.
An elusive property of that-clauses following manner-of-speaking verbs is that they do not behave like that-clauses following other non-factive verbs when it comes to the availability of wh-extraction, main clause phenomena and complementizer drop. Non-factive that-clauses allow wh-extraction, main clause phenomena and complementizer drop, but manner-of-speaking that-clauses resist them. In addition, the behavior of manner-of-speaking that-clauses patterns with noun complement clauses and that-clauses following the pronoun it. In this paper, I argue that the referential and adjunct status of manner-of-speaking that-clauses, noun complement clauses and that-clauses following the pronoun it is responsible for their shared restrictions on wh-extraction, main clause phenomena and complementizer drop. Specifically, I argue all three of these that-clauses are referential adjuncts in a close apposition relationship with a nominal object.
In this paper, we discuss the CP domain of embedded clauses in Spanish, specifically in the realm of que+embedded question constructions first discussed in Plann 1982. We argue for the existence of (at least) two distinct CP layers (following previous work by Lahiri (2002) Demonte & Fernández
A number of recent papers (Kayne 2008, 2010, Arsenijević 2009, Haegeman 2012, among others) have argued that so-called noun complement clauses should be analyzed as a type of relative clause. In this paper I provide evidence from a number of languages that presents some challenges to any strong claim that a relative clause strategy for noun complement clauses is universal. Evidence comes from Basque, Bulgarian, Durban Zulu, English, Finnish and Swedish, and includes data involving complementizer choice, complementizer-drop and subject agreement patterns.
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