The functional motivations of complement Thas-Clauses

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to reveal a few basic principles which constitute the essential logic of the English system of complementation. That-clauses will be the main focus of attention, although frequent reference will be made to the non-finite forms of complementation, especially to complementation by infinitives. I will draw on well-established research by Bresnan (1972), Riddle (1975), Rudanko (1984), Noonan (1985), Beukema and Verspoor (1990), and Givón (1993), in an attempt to integrate them all into a coherent whole. Such an integration will show up "the profoundly non-arbitrary nature of the coding relation between grammar and meaning" (Givón 1993: 2.24), or, in other words, the functional or even logical motivations of the form of clausal complements in English.