The effect of coordinate structure on the licensing of čto-clauses in noun complement constructions: An experimental study

• Main Author: M. Knyazev
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pedagogical State University, Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education 2020-03-01
• Series: Rhema. Рема
• Subjects: russian; experimental syntax; noun complement clauses; collocation; coordination; frequency
• Online Access: http://rhema-journal.com/Rema_2020_1_Knyazev.pdf

Previously, čto-clause complements of nouns were found to be more acceptable in constructions with collocations as opposed to non-collocations, which was taken to support the hypothesis whereby čto-clauses are introduced by a silent preposition licensed by incorporation into a complex predicate (created in collocational constructions). The paper presents the results of an acceptability rating study testing the prediction of this account, namely, that embedding the noun in a coordinate structure should block the incorporation and hence licensing of čto-clauses. In addition, an alternative hypothesis is examined according to which čto-clauses are more acceptable in collocations due to their higher frequency.