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Variation across two dimensions: testing the Complexity Principle and the Uniform Information Density Principle on adjectival data1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2016

HENRIK KAATARI
HENRIK KAATARI*
Affiliation:
Department of English, Uppsala University, Box 527, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden [email protected]
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Abstract

This study tests the applicability of the Complexity Principle (Rohdenburg 1996) and the Uniform Information Density Principle (Jaeger 2010) on adjectival data as regards the variation between retaining and omitting the complementizer that in English adjectival complementation constructions. More specifically, the study tests the effect of different factors of potential importance on this variation across extraposed (e.g. It was inevitable (that) he should be nicknamed ‘the Ferret’) and post-predicate clauses (e.g. I'm happy (that) we are married). While both the factors concerned with the Complexity Principle and the Uniform Information Density Principle are found to have an effect on post-predicate clauses, less clear effects are found concerning extraposed clauses. I attribute these findings to the difference between the two constructions in terms of their frequency of co-occurrence with different matrix subject types and with different adjectives.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Language & Linguistics , Volume 20 , Special Issue 3: Support strategies in language variation and change , November 2016 , pp. 533 - 558
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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Footnotes

1

I would like to express my gratitude to the members of the Uppsala University English linguistics seminar and two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this article.

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