Talk:Complement (linguistics)

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[edit] Objects as complements

Are objects complements? There needs to be a discussion here as to whether or not they are. --74.93.119.9 14:51, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

In the syntax books I've seen, objects are one out of many types of complement (in X-bar theory, they are sisters of the head, while the specifier (eg. subject, determiner) is a sister of X'). --Kiwibird (talk) 15:17, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] In X-bar theory

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (April 2007)

Don't complements show up in some versions of X-bar theory? -- Beland 19:12, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

A complement is just the sister of a head, so given that all versions of X' theory have heads, I'd say they all have complements too.

Objects are generally assumed to be sisters of V (i.e. complements of V). However, these days people often assume that objects start out as complements of V and later move to a higher specifier position. Cadr 03:23, 22 April 2007 (UTC)