Talk:whether or not

category[change]

@Brett: It is not a subordinator. The subordinator is just the word whether and the AdvP or not is in Coordinate function. Victor Bob [talk] 04:20, 11 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Draw me the tree for the example sentence under your analysis.--Brett (talk) 10:50, 11 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Note that the word not is not an adverb but rather a Clause-proform. For this reason, I think or not is a Clause with or in Marker function (though here I just simplify its internal structure by drawing a triangle).

--Victor Bob [talk] 03:44, 13 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

That's certainly creative. Are there any cases of prenucleus clauses in English? --Brett (talk) 13:19, 13 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Emonds in one of his papers argues that infinitival clauses and content clauses (in his terms, verbal clauses) can never function as Subject: they are actually in Prenucleus function (in his terms, spec-CP). I'm not quite sure if this analysis is feasible. Additionally, in CGEL bare infinitival clauses seem to be able to in Prenucleus function, as in Try as he might, he couldn't open the door. Victor Bob [talk] 13:58, 13 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

OK, but basically, this a a completely ad hoc analysis with no justification. I'm not happy with a complex subordinator whether or not, but it's a much more parsimonious solution than this. --Brett (talk) 14:06, 13 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed.

-- Victor Bob [talk] 05:21, 17 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]