Against the analysis of Russian presuppositional clauses in oblique positions as covertly nominalized: Evidence from extraction

Mikhail Knyazev
Institute for Linguistic Studies RAS / HSE University, St. Petersburg / Lomonosov Moscow State University

Abstract: In a number of approaches, the clausal arguments of factive (and more generally, presuppositional) predicates have the status of nominals and, accordingly, are embedded in the projection of an overt or abstract nominalizing head (DP). For presuppositional clauses in subject and, to a lesser extent, accusative object position, this analysis has received some support in the literature. This paper tested the predictions of the DP analysis for presuppositional clauses in oblique positions, whose status is more controversial. For this purpose, two acceptability rating experiments were conducted to assess the acceptability of interrogative and relative argument extractions from Russian clausal complements with čto of presuppositional (‘regret’, ‘be proud’) and non-presuppositional (‘hope’, ‘hint’) predicates. The DP analysis predicts that extractions from the former should be less acceptable compared to the latter. Extractions from clauses with to, čto, which are considered to be islands, were also tested. No clear differences in extractions were found between the two classes of predicates, whereas extractions from to, čto-clauses were rated lower in both cases. Thus, the results provide no evidence for the DP-analysis, forcing a reconsideration of the strict correlation between presuppositionality and the presence of the nominalizing structure.

Keywords: clausal complements, presuppositionality, DP-shells, argument extraction, experimental syntax, Russian

For citation: Knyazev M. Against the analysis of Russian presuppositional clauses in oblique positions as covertly nominalized: Evidence from extraction. Typology of Morphosyntactic Parameters. 2023. Vol. 6, iss. 1. Pp. 27–69. (In Rus.) doi:10.37632/PI.2023.36.61.002