complementizer (n.) (Comp, COMP, C)

In GENERATIVE SYNTAX, a term used to refer to SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS which mark an EMBEDDED sentence of a COMPLEMENT type, e.g. that in I said that he was leaving. It is also used, in X-BAR syntax, to refer to a position in CLAUSE (S′) structure, symbolized by COMP or C, which may be filled (for example) by a complementizer or by a clause-initial wh-phrase. In GOVERNMENT-BINDING THEORY, COMP (or C) is a ZERO-level category whose maximal PROJECTION C″ (or CP) is, like the initial symbol, the highest-level GRAMMATICAL construction. Within this approach, WH-MOVEMENT, for example, is a movement to the specifier-of-C position.