Verbless clause

{{Short description|Generative grammar}} '''Verbless clauses''' are comprised, semantically, of a predicand, expressed or not, and a verbless predicate. For example, the underlined string in [''With the children so sick,''] ''we've been at home a lot'' means the same thing as the clause ''the children are so sick''. It attributes the predicate "so sick" to the predicand "the children". In most contexts, *''the children so sick'' would be ungrammatical.

== History of the concept == In the early days of generative grammar, new conceptions of the clause were emerging. Paul Postal and Noam Chomsky argued that every verb phrase had a subject, even if none was expressed, (though Joan Bresnan and Michael Brame disagreed).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pullum|first=Geoffrey K.|title=Proceedings of the Western Conference on Linguistics, Volume 2: 1989|publisher=Department of Linguistics, California State University|year=1989|editor-last=Brengelman|editor-first=Frederick H.|location=Fresno, CA|chapter=Prospects for generative grammar in the 1990s|editor-last2=Samiian|editor-first2=Vida|editor-last3=Wilkins|editor-first3=Wendy}}</ref> As a result, every VP was thought to head a clause.

The idea of verbless clauses was perhaps introduced by James McCawley in the early 1980s with examples like the underlined part of ''with John in jail''... meaning "John is in jail".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McCawley|first=James D.|date=1983|title=What's with with?|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/413575|journal=Language|volume=59|issue=2 |pages=271–287|doi=10.2307/413575 |jstor=413575 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

== Examples ==

=== English === In Modern English, verbless clauses are common as the complement of ''with'' or ''without''.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last1=Huddleston|first1=Rodney|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781316423530/type/book|title=The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language|last2=Pullum|first2=Geoffrey K.|date=2002-04-15|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-43146-0|edition=1|doi=10.1017/9781316423530}}</ref>{{Rp|1267}}

Other prepositions such as ''although'', ''once'', ''when'', and ''while'' also take verbless clause complements, such as ''Although no longer a student, she still dreamed of the school,<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|1267}}'' in which the predicand corresponds to the subject of the main clause, ''she''. Supplements, too can be verbless clauses, as in ''Many people came, some of them children'' or ''Break over, they returned to work.''

Neither ''A comprehensive grammar of the English language''<ref>{{Cite book|title=A comprehensive grammar of the English language|publisher=Longman|year=1985}}</ref>{{Rp|1068}} nor''The Cambridge grammar of the English language'' offer any speculations about the structure(s) of such clauses. The latter says, without hedging, "the head of a clause (the predicate) is realised by a VP."{{Rp|50}} It's not clear how such a statement could be compatible with the existence of verbless clauses. {| class="wikitable" |+Verbless clauses in English !Independent !Dependent |- |''What a great thing to do!''<ref name=":2">These clauses each include a verb, but the verb is part of a subordinate clause.</ref>

''How odd that nobody noticed!<ref name=":2" />''

''Out of my way!''

|''He stood there quietly, with his hands in his pockets.'' ''Whether a fact or not, it is commonly believed.''

''Whatever the reason, it's annoying.''

''He didn't love her as much as she him.''

''The bramble shook as if alive.'' |}

=== Gurindji Kriol language === Ascriptive clauses consist of a subject noun and nominalised adjective.

{{Interlinear|ankaj dat karu im yapakayi-wn|poor.thing the child 3SG small-NMLZ|"Poor thing, that child is only a baby."<ref name="Meakins, 2012b">Meakins, 2012b</ref>}}

Existential clauses contain a subject with locative phrase.

{{Interlinear|dat warlaku im andanith jiya-ngka|the dog 3SG underneath chair-LOC|"The dog is underneath the chair."<ref name="Meakins, 2012b">Meakins, 2012b</ref>}}

Possessive constructions consist of a nominal acting as a predicates, taking another nominal argument. In these clauses the head is marked dative. Inalienable nominals (body parts and kinship) are only optionally marked dative.<ref>Meakins and O'Shannessy 2005</ref> {{Interlinear|wartarra yu bin kirt dat ngakparn-ku hawuj|hey 2SG PST break the frog-DAT house|"Hey you broke the frog's home (the bottle)."<ref>Meakins 2011c: 157</ref>}}

=== Jingulu language === In Jingulu language, predicates in verbless clauses can be adjectives or nouns, possessors, adpositionals, or adverbs.

'''Verbless clause example:'''{{interlinear|Miringmi bardakurrumi.|gum good(v)|'Gum is good.'<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pensalfini|first=Robert|title=A Grammar of Jingulu: An Aboriginal language of the Northern Territory|publisher=Pacific Linguistics|year=2003|isbn=0858835584|location=Canberra, Australia}}</ref>{{Rp|87}}|lang=jig}}

=== Merei-Tiale language === In Merei-Tiale language, there are verbless equative clauses. {| class="wikitable" |''I'' |''nau'' |''motei'' |''na'' |''tasale'' |- |A:P |1 |IRR.3.NEG |A:C |white-man |- | colspan="5" |'I am not a white-man'<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|last=Chung, Ying Shing Anthony.|title=Descriptive grammar of Merei (Vanuatu)|date=2005|publisher=Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University|others=Australian National University. Pacific Linguistics.|isbn=0858835606|location=Canberra|oclc=70282773}}</ref>{{Rp|37}} |} {| class="wikitable" |''I'' |''nie'' |''motei'' |''na'' |''tija'' |- |A:P |3 |IRR.3.NEG |A:C |teacher |- | colspan="5" |'He is not a teacher'<ref name=":12" />{{Rp|37}} |}

=== Modern Scots === In Modern Scots, examples are seen in relative clauses. ''She haed tae walk the hale lenth o the road an her seiven month pregnant'' "She had to walk the whole length of the road—and she seven months pregnant". ''He telt me tae rin an me wi ma sair leg'' "He told me to run—''and me with my sore leg''".

=== Shilha language === Shilha language has examples like the following:

: ''darnɣ argan ar inkkr ɣ tagant'' (with.us EL-argan it.is.growing in EA-forest) "we have an argan tree growing in the forest" : ''is ur dark kra yaḍnin?'' (question not with.you something other) "don't you have something different?"

== References == <references /> Category:Syntax Category:Semantics