Testing two processing principles with respect to the extraction of elements out of complement clauses in English

Abstract

The present article contrasts two processing principles, the Domain Minimization Principle (e.g. Hawkins 1999, 2004) and the Complexity Principle (e.g. Rohdenburg 1996, 2007b) in structures involving the extraction of postverbal elements out of (competing) complement clauses. The Domain Minimization Principle may be described as a processing tendency which consists in minimizing the size and complexity of various domains including the filler–gap domain in cases like the following: This is a problem (that) they had promised (that) they would tackle. By contrast, the Complexity Principle represents a correlation between processing complexity and grammatical explicitness. It stipulates that more explicit (and typically more bulky) constructional options are favoured in cognitively more complex environments.This article deals with two sets of rival complements. The behaviour of the first group of clausal alternatives is in line with Hawkins’ prediction, though incompatible with the Complexity Principle. However, there is an even larger group of complement pairs whose distribution inside and outside extraction contexts is predicted by the Complexity Principle but unaccounted for by Domain Minimization. Thus, in extraction contexts, the visible effects of the two antagonistic principles are found with virtually complementary ranges of complement types. The article concludes by attempting to account for the kind of division of labour observed between the two principles under scrutiny. It will be suggested among other things that, in English, the marked infinitive (on its own or with an associated NP) enjoys a privileged or target status in extraction contexts.