syntaxthat

Syntaxthat is a term used in linguistic theory and natural language processing to describe a focus on the role of complementizer words, particularly that, in forming embedded clauses. The label is not a standard heading in major grammars, but it appears in some contemporary studies as a shorthand for examining how clause embedding interacts with meaning and processing. As a concept, syntaxthat covers both the syntactic conditions that allow or restrict that-clauses and the implications for downstream parsing and interpretation.

Origin and usage: The term is not widely standardized; it arose in discussions of clause embedding in English and cross-linguistic work on complementizers. In research contexts, syntaxthat is used to group phenomena such as optional use of that, that-trace effects, and language differences in producing embedded clauses. Some authors see it as a productive umbrella term for experiments comparing sentences with that-clauses to those with bare clauses.

Key features: The concept emphasizes (1) the syntactic position and behavior of the that-complimentizer; (2) the processing and disambiguation challenges posed by embedded clauses; and (3) cross-language variation in the availability and interpretation of that-clauses. It is used in parsing models, corpus annotation, and theoretical accounts of clause complementation. Limitations include inconsistent usage and the lack of a formal, universally accepted definition.

Applications: In NLP, syntaxthat informs parser training for distinguishing that-clauses from bare clauses, improving machine translation of embedded clauses, and enhancing information extraction.

Examples: English: The claim that the hypothesis is correct. The claim that the hypothesis is correct without omitting that. Cross-linguistically: some languages require explicit complementizers; others permit omission. See also: complementizer, that-clauses, embedded clause, syntactic theory.