fullclause

Fullclause is a term used in some linguistic grammars to denote an independent clause that can function as a complete sentence. In this sense, a fullclause expresses a complete proposition and contains both a subject and a finite predicate. It is distinguished from subordinate or dependent clauses, which cannot stand alone without additional material.

In many descriptions, a fullclause corresponds to what grammars call an independent clause or main clause. The key criterion is sentence-level independence: the clause does not rely on another clause for its core meaning. In languages with flexible word order, what counts as a fullclause can be debated, and some analyses classify finite versus non-finite clauses; a fullclause typically contains a finite verb.

Usage of the term occurs in descriptive grammars, typological overviews, and natural language processing resources as a unit of analysis for clause segmentation, parsing, or generation. It is not universally standardized, and some traditions prefer “independent clause” or “main clause” instead. When encountered in corpora and annotation schemes, fullclause often marks clause boundaries that can stand syntactically and semantically on their own.

Example: “The cat slept on the mat.” is a fullclause. “Because the cat slept on the mat” is not a fullclause alone; it is a dependent clause that requires a main clause to form a complete sentence. The term can be more or less synonymous with “independent clause” depending on the grammar tradition.