Finiteness in South Slavic Complement Clauses

Evidence for an Implicational Finiteness Universal

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20438740
AutoresSusanne Wurmbrand (University of Vienna), Iva Kovač (0000-0001-8415-0273, University of Vienna), Magdalena Lohninger (University of Vienna), Caroline Pajancic (University of Vienna), Neda Todorović (0000-0003-0885-4353, University of British Columbia)
Año2020
Volumen60
Número1
Páginas119-137
Fecha de publicación2020-12-04
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLinguistica (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0024-3922 • E-ISSN: 2350-420X
EditorialUniversity of Ljubljana (PUBLISHER • SI)
DOI10.4312/linguistica.60.1.119-137
OpenAlexW3116814939
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas7

This paper shows that the distribution of (non‐)finiteness in the South Slavic languages reflects an implicational scale along an independently attested semantic complementation hierarchy (e.g., Givón 1980). We suggest that in the South Slavic languages, finiteness is triggered by clausal agreement features associated with different syntactic heads. Building on a complexity approach to the complementation hierarchy, we propose that cross-linguistic variation in finiteness and variation across different types of complements are the result of language-specific differences in the distribution of agreement features. More broadly, we conclude that there is no (universal) semantic correlate of (non‐)finiteness and, contra cartographic approaches, that finiteness is not confined to a particular domain in the clause. Following Adger (2007), we argue that finiteness can be distributed over all clausal domains

Complement (music) · Complementation · Distribution (mathematics) · Hierarchy · Linguistics · Physics · Political science · Slavic languages · Variation (astronomy) · History · Linguistics and language evolution · Mathematics · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation