On the Existence of Null Complementizers in Syntax

Against Zeljko Boskovic's (1997) claim that the declarative embedded clause of Mary thinks John left lacks any CP projection, dialect data from Kansai Japanese are adduced from Mamoru Saito (1986) to demonstrate a distributional pattern of complementizer deletion that closely parallels English that-deletion, in that both are possible in the complements of verbs of saying & thinking & are blocked if (1) the complement clause is moved or (2) the complement is selected by a manner-of-speaking verb. It is argued that the Kansai Japanese complement clauses without the complementizer -tte require analysis with a phonetically null complementizer head C to support the adverbial particles sura 'even' & dake 'only', as the former can only be hosted by a complementizer & the latter retains an interpretation that obtains only when it is attached to C, not to the tense head T. 10 References. J. Hitchcock