ccomp: clausal complement
A clausal complement of a verb or adjective is a dependent clause which is a core argument. That is, it functions like an object of the verb, or adjective.
He says that you like to swim
ccomp(says, like)
mark(like, that)
He says you like to swim
ccomp(says, like)
Such clausal complements may be finite or nonfinite. However, if the subject of the clausal complement is controlled (that is, must be the same as the higher subject or object, with no other possible interpretation) the appropriate relation is xcomp.
The boss said to start digging
ccomp(said, start)
mark(start, to)
We started digging
xcomp(started, digging)
The key difference here is that, while it is possible to interpret the first
sentence to mean that the boss will not be doing any digging, in the second
sentence it is clear that the subject of digging can only be we. This is
what distinguishes ccomp and xcomp.
Adjectives may also license ccomp:
I was afraid/ADJ that this would happen
ccomp(afraid, happen)
Reported Speech
With a speech verb like say, the content of reported speech is considered to be part of the verb’s valency. It therefore attaches as ccomp—not only when integrated within the clause as an indirect quotation (said that…), but also when set off as a direct quotation, even with inverted order:
He said that he knew the muffin man .
ccomp(said, knew)
I asked : " Do you know the muffin man ? "
ccomp(asked, know)
" Do you know the muffin man ? " I asked .
ccomp(asked, know)
" I had hoped to remain anonymous , " said the muffin man , who was tracked down Sunday at his home on Drury Lane .
ccomp(said, hoped)
nsubj(said, man)
Quoted content is considered to be ccomp even if it is a sentence fragment:
" Three/NUM muffins/NOUN , " he answered .
nummod(muffins, Three)
ccomp(answered, muffins)
If the speech verb interrupts the reported speech content, parataxis is used instead. The speech verb attaches to the root of the reported speech (all in the following example):
" Three muffins , " he answered , " are all that I need today . "
parataxis(all, answered)
nsubj(all, muffins)
Weapons of mass destruction , the report explained , are designed to target civilian populations .
parataxis(designed, explained)
nsubj:pass(designed, Weapons)
the impact that the group 's practices , law enforcement officials say , are having on the most vulnerable within the sect
acl:relcl(impact, having)
nsubj(having, practices)
parataxis(having, say)
Changed:
- In earlier versions of SD/USD, complement clauses with nouns like fact or report were also analyzed as
ccomp. However, we now analyze them as acl. Hence,ccompdoes not appear in nominals. This makes sense, since nominals normally do not take core arguments. - The policy for copular constructions with a full clause as predicate has been changed to no longer use
ccompto nest the predicate clause under the copula.
ccomp in other languages: [bej] [bg] [bm] [cop] [cs] [de] [el] [en] [es] [et] [eu] [fi] [fr] [fro] [ga] [gsw] [gub] [hy] [it] [ja] [ka] [kk] [ky] [ml] [no] [pa] [pcm] [pt] [qpm] [ro] [ru] [sl] [ssp] [sv] [swl] [tr] [u] [urj] [uz] [vi] [xcl] [yue] [zh]