Languagethat

Languagethat is a fictional linguistic construct used in linguistics education and theoretical discussions to illustrate how languages structure complement clauses and relative clauses. It is not a real language, but a placeholder model designed to compare typological patterns across hypothetical scenarios.

Etymology and purpose: The term blends “language” with the word “that” to emphasize the role of the complementizer that and the mechanisms of relativization. It appears in teaching materials and introductory syntax discussions to anchor examples about sentence embedding and extraction. Because it is fictional, languagethat can be described with a wide range of features without misrepresenting any particular natural language.

Typical features (in the model): Languagethat is depicted as having a simple basic word order, such as subject–verb–object, with relatively flexible placement of modifiers. It uses that as a mandatory or optional complementizer to introduce embedded clauses, and it allows both overt and zero relative pronouns in restrictive clauses. The model also highlights how movement operations inside embedded clauses can affect reference and binding conditions.

Examples: The researcher said that languagethat makes relative clauses easy to demonstrate benefits for language learning. The manuscript that the linguist wrote about languagethat shows how extraction from embedded clauses can be constrained. In languagethat, a sentence like The teacher that the student admired explained the concept illustrates a nested relative construction.

See also: linguistics, syntax, relative clause, complementizer, that-trace effect.