Factive Complementizers in Three Balkan Languages Cover Image

Фактивни комплементизатори в три балкански езика
Factive Complementizers in Three Balkan Languages

Author(s): Iliyana Krapova
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Applied Linguistics, Language acquisition, Philology
Published by: Институт за български език „Проф. Любомир Андрейчин“, Българска академия на науките
Keywords: factivity; complementizers; Bulgarian; Modern Greek; Serbian; Croatian

Summary/Abstract: The article investigates factive predicates in the Balkan languages, focusing on the types of conjunctions/complementizers that introduce subordinate clauses selected by these predicates. Building on the classical typology of factive constructions (Kiparsky, Kiparsky 1970; Karttunen 1971; Karttunen 1973; Karttunen 1974), I show that in the Balkan area, alongside declarative complementizers and subjunctive particles, there also exist specialized factive complementizers (Bulgarian deto, Serbian/Croatian što, Greek pu). These complementizers are selected exclusively by emotive predicates and correlate with the projection of presupposition in the embedded clause, as well as with a range of additional syntactic effects. The article delineates the parameters of these phenomena in Bulgarian and places them in a comparative perspective with respect to existing research on factivity, clause types, and the nominal nature of embedded structures. In conclusion, the paper discusses specific aspects of the development of these complementizers in the Balkan languages and their role in expressing factivity, in contrast to languages such as English, which employ a single complementizer across all predicate types.

  • Issue Year: 73/2026
  • Issue No: Special
  • Page Range: 69-91
  • Page Count: 23
  • Language: Bulgarian
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