SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This study is concerned with embedded sentences in Shona which are not relative clauses. These complements seem to be of two types, namely, those dominated by NP which are referred to as noun phrase complements and those directly dominated by VP which are referred to as verb phrase complements. The case for each type is argued in the first chapter. The second chapter deals with the complementizing morphemes found in Shona (Zezuru dialect), A procedure is adopted by which complementizers are identified. This study also brings out the fact that infinitival complements and derived nominals should be treated differently. Evidence is adduced to show that the former are derived transformationally, but not the latter. Chapter Four discusses the insertion of complementizers into the underlying structure by analyzing first the transformational approach, then its inadequacy, and finally the phrase structure approach. The latter approach is preferred to the former on empirical evidence. The transformational rules which are mentioned in this study are described in the fifth chapter. Although some of the rules are dealt with fairly extensively, for others no more than an outline is given, The main purpose of this chapter was to provide only enough information about how these rules work in order to facilitate understanding of the thesis. The grammatical function of embedded sentences, that is, whether a given complement clause functions as a subject or an object etc, is the concern of Chapter Six. I consider the main contribution of this thesis to be the chapters dealing with (a) the arguments for setting up the two types of sentence complements, (b) procedures for the discovery of complementizers, (c) the arguments showing how complementizers should be inserted into the underlying structure, and (d) the distribution in sentences of embedded clauses.