Kerstin Schwabe & Robert Fittler:
Über semantische Konsistenzbedingungen deutscher Matrixprädikate (Teil 1)
Abstract:
Previous accounts addressing the question what semantic properties of a matrix predicate determine the possible clause type of the embedded clause have not provided a general answer (e.g. Grimshaw 1979, Zifonun et al. 1997, Ginzburg & Sag 2000). This paper proposes that clause-embedding predicates fulfill characteristic logical conditions, so-called consistency conditions, which rule the syntactic potential of the matrix clause: for instance, the clause type of the embedded clause (declarative, ob– and/or wh-interrogative) and the correlate type, the matrix predicate can co-occur with (es and/or ProPP). Furthermore, they predict the logical forms of legitimate constructions with embedded ob– or wh-interrogatives, respectively, and how a legitimate optional correlate modifies the meaning of the matrix predicate.
