abstract: I investigate how complementizers, which connect subordinate clauses to the main sentence, develop from other parts of speech, namely prepositions and adverbs. This occurs by the process of grammaticalization, in which a word loses lexicality and gains grammatical function instead. I use computer-based corpus analysis to determine how often certain words are used as each part of speech in my selected texts, and whether they are accompanied by other grammatical words. I use two Old English glosses of the Latin gospels, the Rushworth and Lindisfarne glosses, in order to analyze possible diachronic and geographical differences between the texts. I demonstrate that prepositions develop into adverbs and thence into complementizers with the assistance of certain grammatical accessory words which are later lost. This occurs by the process of reanalysis, in which the language user interprets a word or phrase differently than before. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. English 2010

This thesis describes and analyses patterns of complementation and auxiliation in the languages spoken in an understudied area of Italy, namely Southern Lazio. From a descriptive perspective, this thesis serves to document several severely endangered Romance languages spoken in the Italian peninsula. In so doing, several previously undocumented complementizer and auxiliary systems are illustrated for the first time. From a theoretical perspective, this thesis accounts for the patterns of variation found in these auxiliary and complementizer systems. Traditional descriptions of Italo- Romance treat these systems as entirely unrelated. Indeed, to date, no previous study has compared the distribution of complementizers and auxiliaries in Italo-Romance to investigate similarities and correspondences between them. This dissertation takes the original step of demonstrating that the distribution of particular auxiliary systems correlates with the distribution of particular complementizer systems, offering, in turn, an integrated and complementary theoretical analysis of both phenomena.

This thesis explores how question FORCE (Rizzi 1997) is represented and licensed in Korean polar alternative questions (Korean PAQs). The syntactic properties of polar alternative questions have not been fully discussed in the literature; this work seeks to address that gap. The thesis has two main components. First, I provide an initial detailed investigation into the syntactic structure of Korean polar alternative questions (Korean PAQs), also called A-not-A questions, such as ciwu-nun ca-ni an ca-ni? ‘Is Jiwoo sleeping or not?’ I argue that Korean PAQs consist syntactically of a single clause. In this respect, Korean PAQs are distinct from both alternative questions and polar questions. The second goal of this thesis is to account for the asymmetric behaviour of complementizers in main clauses and embedded clauses. Variant complementizers occur in main clauses in Korean PAQs, while neutralized ci is the only complementizer which is licensed to appear in embedded clauses. Furthermore, Korean PAQs are incompatible with constituent questions in main clauses, but compatible with them in embedded clauses. This asymmetry is explained by appealing to the notion of a unique illocutionary question force in main clauses. In main clauses, the syntactic constituent ForceP cannot carry more than one kind of illocutionary question force: it bears either constituent question force or polar alternative question force, but not both. In contrast, since embedded clauses contain non-question (non-answer-requiring) complementizers, separate question forms do not conflict with each other in this location. Based on a wide range of empirical data from Korean, this thesis proposes to distinguish Force (‘question’) complementizers in the main clauses from Type (‘interrogative’) complementizers in embedded clauses. The novel data from Korean polar alternative questions require a major rethinking of the received view on the analysis of complementizers as expressed in Rizzi (1997). My analysis shows that the pragmatic categories of illocutionary force are highly significant for syntactic analysis in ways that have not been treated consistently in theoretical discussions of questions, in particular as regards the very distinct roles of main and embedded ‘questions’. / Graduate

Ce travail de recherche se donne pour but d’analyser la dynamique générale de la norme de l’anglais contemporain et son rapport avec la variation linguistique. Pour ce faire, nous abordons quelques subordonnants qui illustrent le déplacement du centre de gravité de la norme sur les axes spatial et social. À travers l’étude de la complémentation du verbe help, nous illustrons l’américanisation syntaxique de l’anglais britannique et nous montrons comment les contraintes d’emploi se sont assouplies, pour aboutir finalement, dans le cas de l’opposition help + to + infinitif et help + zéro + infinitif, à une disparition de la distinction sémantique entre les deux formes. Cette disparition est le résultat d’un recours sans cesse plus fréquent à l’infinitif nu pour des raisons stratégiques, surtout dans la publicité. Ensuite, nous nous intéressons au like conjonction et nous analysons son expansion dans la langue. Après avoir expliqué son apparition par des facteurs isomorphiques et sémantiques, auxquels s’ajoute probablement une réanalyse de l’adjectif like signifiant « vraisemblable », nous montrons comment ce subordonnant s’est répandu à travers les registres de langue et les types de texte, ainsi qu’à travers les constructions syntaxiques, jusqu’à devenir un élément non périphérique de la syntaxe anglaise. D’après nous, le succès de cette innovation reflète l’évolution des modes de communication, qui se fondent de plus en plus sur la proximité interpersonnelle à des fins stratégiques. D’une simple acceptation de la familiarité dans la norme, c’est donc de plus en plus vers une norme de familiarité que nous nous dirigeons actuellement. / This study aims at analysing the general dynamics of the norm of contemporary English, together with its relationship with linguistic variation. In order to do so, a few subordoners have been selected to illustrate how the centre of gravity of the norm moves along the spatial and social axes. The study of the opposition between zero and to after the verb help is used to document the syntactic americanization of British English and it is shown that the constraints limiting the use of zero have gradually slackened, which led to a complete disappearance of the semantic distinction between the two forms. The said disappearance results from an evergrowing use of the bare infinitive for strategic reasons, particularly in advertizing. The third part deals with conjunction like and analyzes its expansion in English. It is argued that the appearance of this subordoner can be attributed to isomorphic and semantic factors, and to a potential reanalysis of the adjective like meaning likely.. This section also traces how this subordoner has spread through registers and text-types, and through syntactic structures, before becoming a central part of the English syntax. It appears that the success of this innovation reflects the current trends in modes of communication, which tend to favour interpersonal proximity for strategic purposes. From a mere acceptance of informality within the norm, we are now heading towards a new norm of informality.