Introduction

In this chapter we will investigate how semantic representations and syntactic representations are linked in complex sentences. We will start from the syntactic representations developed in chapter 8 and from the linking algorithms in chapter 7. An important question to be investigated is the extent to which the linking algorithms proposed in chapter 7 for simple sentences must be modified to deal with complex sentences. We will proceed as follows. In section 9.1 we look at linking in the different juncture–nexus types discussed in chapter 8. This includes discussion of a number of issues that have been important in theoretical debates over the past three decades: control constructions (a.k.a. ‘equi-NP-deletion’), matrix-coding constructions (a.k.a. ‘raising to subject’, ‘raising to object’, ‘exceptional case-marking’) and causative constructions. We investigate case marking in complex constructions in section 9.2. The next section focuses on linking in complex NP constructions, primarily relative clause constructions. In section 9.4 we investigate reflexivization in complex constructions, and again the question arises as to the extent to which the principles proposed in section 7.5.2 will have to be modified to deal with these new phenomena. In section 9.5 we propose an account of the restrictions on so-called ‘long-distance dependencies’ involved in WH-question formation, topicalization and relativization. These restrictions, which fall under the principle known as ‘subjacency’ in the generative literature, are significant for linguistic theory, for theories of language acquisition and for related theories of cognitive organization (see section 1.3.1).