This dissertation presents a syntactic study of Spanish prepositional finite clauses in a historical and crosslinguistic perspective. The goal is to analyze the syntax of those clauses and their components “prepositions (Ps) and finite clauses (complementizer phrases, CPs)“ in Spanish and in several other European languages, and establish to what extent the current formal syntactic tools can provide an accurate account of the data that goes beyond language-internal explanations.
Argument and adjunct prepositional finite clauses are grammatical in present day Spanish, the former including que-clauses and indirect interrogative finite clauses. However, Old Spanish texts only document adjunct clauses (the traditional ‘adverbial clauses'); the argument ones do not become frequent until the 16th-17th centuries. Both types are examined in their properties and syntactic environment, and are compared to P + infinitives and P + noun phrase. Nominality of the clause, argumenthood and prepositionality, functional Ps vs. lexical Ps, the role of Case, and optionality of the P constitute the theoretical construct against which the evidence is checked.
Latin, (Old) Portuguese, (Old) French, and (Old) Italian are studied and compared to Spanish and among themselves. Several Germanic languages are surveyed, including (Old) English, the Nordic languages and Old Norse, (Middle) Dutch, and (Old High) German. These languages show variable degrees of P + finite CP grammaticality, ranging from the high similarity between Portuguese or the Nordic languages and Spanish to the more limited similarity between Spanish and French, Italian or English. Nevertheless, it is documented that all these languages have some type of P + finite CP. In doing so, and since this dissertation devotes much attention to data, several relevant constructions are highlighted which challenge the commonly accepted conclusions about the clausal patterns of each language. Infinitives are also incorporated. The same theoretical construct applied to Spanish is used with these crosslinguistic data.
This dissertation contributes to the understanding of the syntax of Spanish prepositional finite clauses by looking at it from within and from a comparative perspective. It points out the need for crosslinguistically valid categories and explanations to comprehend the properties of human language.