The contrast between states-of-affairs and propositions in clausal complementation
Public Defence of PhD thesis by Marie-Louise Lind Sørensen.
This thesis is a crosslinguistic study of the semantic contrast between states-of-affairs and propositions in clausal complementation. The aim of the thesis is to provide a cognitive-functional analysis of grammatical contrasts between clausal complements expressing states-of-affairs and propositions. The following questions are addressed: 1) To what extent does the distinction between states-of-affairs and propositions motivate grammatical contrasts in clausal complementation? 2) What is the status of reported speech in a typology of complementation based on the contrast between states-of-affairs and propositions? and 3) How can the contrast between states-of-affairs and propositions be used as a point of departure for describing the system of complementation in a specific language? The thesis presents a crosslinguistic study of a sample of 173 languages and a descriptive study of clausal complementation in the Bantu language Ruuli.
Afhandlingen er et tværsprogligt studie af den semantiske kontrast mellem sagforhold og propositioner. Formålet med afhandlingen er at fremsætte en kognitiv-funktionel analyse af grammatiske kontraster mellem komplementsætninger, der gengiver henholdsvis sagforhold og propositioner. De følgende spørgsmål søges besvaret: 1) I hvilket omfang motiverer den semantiske kontrast mellem sagforhold og propositioner grammatiske kontraster i komplementsætninger? 2) Hvilken rolle spiller gengivet tale i en komplementeringstypologi baseret på sagforhold og propositioner? og 3) Hvordan kan kontrasten mellem sagforhold og propositioner bruges i beskrivelsen af komplementering i et specifikt sprog? For at besvare disse spørgsmål anvender afhandlingen et tværsprogligt studie af et sample på 173 sprog og et deskriptivt studie af bantusproget ruuli.
Assessment Committee
- Professor Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen, chairman (University of Copenhagen)
- Senior Researcher Natalia Serdobolskaya (Russian State University for the Humanities)
- Dr Petar Kehayov (Leibniz-Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung)
Moderator of the defence
- Associate Professor Jan Heegaard Petersen (University of Copenhagen)
Copies of the thesis will be available for consultation at the following three places:
- At the Information Desk of the Library of the Faculty of Humanities
- In Reading Room East of the Royal Library (the Black Diamond)
- At the Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, Emil Holms Kanal 2, 2300 Copenhagen S.
