Clausal substantivization in Spanish: syntax and constraints
Manuel Delicado Cantero2013
Sign up for access to the world's latest research
Abstract
The nominal distribution of finite clauses in many languages has been explained by positing a nominal projection of some sort on top of the (verbal) CP. Additional evidence of such nominality has been drawn from the fact that in many of those languages a determiner can indeed top the CP projection (D + CP), thus creating a DP. In standard Spanish, speakers may optionally add such a determiner under certain semantic circumstances. Spanish finite clauses in principle fall under such a syntactic account. However, despite their nominal distribution, a constraint remains which apparently challenges such generalization. Finite clauses introduced by the complementizer que (‘that’)—que-clauses—may not combine with a determiner in spite of meeting all expected requirements. This paper offers a revision of the nominality of the Spanish finite que-clause. Special attention is devoted to the role of the determiner, arguing for a differentiation between the general nominality of finite clauses and the optional creation of a DP (D + CP) in certain contexts in Spanish. Furthermore, the paper includes an analysis of the unexpected constraint in prepositional contexts in terms of strict adjacency, which makes it possible to account for the lack of the D layer while retaining the nominality of que-clauses in Spanish.
Key takeaways
- The first one is to revisit the nature of finite clauses (especially, declarative clauses introduced by the complementizer que, 'that'; que-clauses henceforth), their nominality, and the syntax of clausal nominalization (and substantivization) in Spanish.
- Importantly, the authors point out that there is no need to posit an (empty) determiner for clausal gerunds (8c,c'), nevertheless nominal, as evidenced by the fact that they can be prepositional objects (Panagiotidis and Grohmann 2009: 150, fn 5).
- What the actual nature of nominalization is and which category is the nominalizer in CP nominalizations will be discussed, especially the question whether a clause, or at least its complementizer, is essentially nominal or whether it requires the presence of a determiner to become nominal.
- Tonic elements such as porqué do not require strict adjacency (20d,e), whether introduced by a determiner or not, like the DP in (20e) The complementizer que, phonetically unstressed 10 , forms a (mandatory) unstressed cluster with the preposition blocking the interpolation of any syntactic material, resulting in the ungrammaticality of <P + D + que> in standard Spanish: 11
- (25) PP P CP de, para =C TP Finally, the presence of the determiner el creates a DP out of an otherwise already nominal projection; that is, clausal nominality is brought about automatically due to the nominal nature of complementizer que (empty C for wh-clauses).
