Complementizer Phrase and Wh Movement

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b. Complementizer Phrase and Wh Movement

An adjective clause can also be perceived as a complemetizer phrase CP. It is sustained by the following arguments. There are two important features about an adjective clause. The first one is about the nature of the adjective clause in which it is similar to the nature of an adjective Murphy, 1985: 182. In the perspective of O’Grady, Archibald, Aronoff and Rees-Miller 2005: 158, in line with Fromkin, Rodman and Hyams 2003: 130, state that this clause functions as a complement. However, they, as well as Radford 1997: 521, do not consider the complement as a clause but they consider as a phrase. The second one is about the role of a relative pronoun in the adjective clause. The relative pronoun marks and introduces the adjective clauses Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech and Svartvik, 1985: 365. Nevertheless, in line with the term which O’Grady et al. 2005: 185 has already made, the relative pronoun is categorised into a noun phrase. It is due to the fact that the relative pronoun corresponds to the noun or pronoun which is modified In question number four the students were required to choose the best tree diagram which represented the adjective clause who is smart of the sentence [2]. This question measured the students’ performance on identifying a complementizer phrase in relation to the main clause. It had been analysed that the clause who is smart of the sentence [2] was an adjective clause. Therefore, in the perspective of Fromkin et al. 2003: 148 and O’Grady et al. 2005: 166 it was a complementizer phrase CP inflection phrase IP. It was because of its role and its relation to noun phrase which was modified and the matrix clause. However, to 55 choose the best tree diagram, categories and merge operations should be correctly assigned. Merge operations become the main criteria before doing more advanced analysis. The word smart was an adjective, therefore it should be denoted as A. The word is was dubbed I because it indicated the sentence’s tense. The auxiliary is was dubbed I because it specified a time frame – whether the situation described by the sentence would take place, already took place or is taking place at the moment Fromkin et al. 2003: 133. Thus, this auxiliary would become the head of the phrase. On contrary, the word who was categorised into noun or N because the relative pronoun who in this clause corresponded to the subject of the main clause. On the other hand, the merge operations allowed the I category to take A as the complement and the N as the specifier. The I merged to A became an I, and finally the I merged to NP becomes an IP. However, a final point which should be taken into account was the fact that the resulted phrase could not be perceived loosely as a sentence IP although based on the merge operation it was denoted as an IP. This IP gave further information about the subject of the main clause. Therefore based on its function and relation to the main clause, the clause who is smart was categorised into a complementizer phrase or CP. The node +Rel was only to show that the phrase was a relative clause or an adjective clause O’Grady et al., 2005: 184. Finally, the best tree diagram which best described the role and relation of the adjective clause who is smart to its main clause is illustrated in Figure 4.1a. The followings also discussed the students’ mistakes in this subject in details. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 56 Figure 4.1a The Tree Diagram of the Correct CP Based on the result of the test there was an interesting finding. There were 19 students 42.22 chose the correct answer. However, 14 students 31.11 stated that the clause who is smart in sentence [2] was an IP as Figure 4.1b illustrates. Figure 4.1b The Incorrect Tree Diagram of the CP in which CP as an IP There were two mistakes in Figure 4.2. First, the auxiliary verb should not be denoted V although it also functioned as the verb in the phrase. Unlike verb, auxiliary verb should be denoted as I. Second, the IP was not the final result from the merge operations, it should be noticed that this phrase attached into a main 57 clause, therefore it formed a CP O’Grady et al., 2005: 166 and Fromkin et al., 2005: 148-150. Furthermore, there were 10 students 22.22 of the students stated that the clause who is smart was a NP as Figure 4.1c illustrates. Figure 4.1c The Incorrect Tree Diagram of the CP in which CP as an NP There were also two mistakes in Figure 4.3. First, I merged to a NP should be denoted as I and not as a NP. Second, Figure 4.3c did not illustrate that this phrase was actually a complementizer phrase CP which embedded into a main clause. Finally, there were two students 4.44 of the students who actually answered barely correct. Figures 4.1d illustrates it. Figure 4.1d The Incorrect Tree Diagram of the CP in which CP as an IP In the Figure 4.1d, all of the merge operations were correct. However, it did not consider that actually who is smart was embedded into another clause or a main clause. In this case, it was a complementizer phrase. Therefore, the final result of PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 58 the merge operations should be denoted as a CP whereas in the diagram above it was an IP. Furthermore, another operation which occurs on the adjective clause is the movement operation. According to O’Grady et al. 2005: 184, adjective clauses structures resemble to Wh question in two respects. First, they can begin with wh word like who or which as the relative pronouns. Second, there is an empty position within the sentence from which the Wh phrase has apparently been moved. Question number five and six required the students to figure out the movement operation in the noun phrase [3]. These questions were intended to restate and review the students’ knowledge on CP and Wh movement principles. [3] The car which John bought The question presented a noun phrase which was modified by an adjective clause was only to draw the students’ attention fully on the movement operation. The tree diagram of the noun phrase [3] which students required to analyse is drawn in Figure 4.2.

4.2 An Adjective Clause Modifies a NP