The Complementizer Phase : Subjects and Operators (Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics)

This book draws together nine original investigations by leading linguists and promising young scholars on the syntax of complementizers (eg that in She said that she would) and their phrases. The chapters are divided into two parts, each of which highlights aspects of the behaviour and function of complementisers. The first part looks at how and when subjects, or parts of subjects, can and cannot move outside their canonical position in a sentence. Each chapter examines and compares the relevance of a number of syntactic factors in languages such as English, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Brazilian Portuguese and Bavarian. In the second part, the focus turns to the nature and function of complementisers themselves, with discussions drawing on evidence from Italian, Italian dialects, Hebrew, and Dutch. "This important compilation advances our knowledge of the intricate phenomena that take place on the edges of clauses. Every one of the contributions is thought-provoking and challenging, a property that would make the volume an ideal text for a graduate seminar in syntactic theory." Frederick J. Newmeyer Professor Emeritus, University of Washington and Adjunct Professor, University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University