What does clausal density indicate?

• A. Number of main clauses per T-unit
• B. The ratio of subordinate clauses to main clause
• C. The syntactic complexity of language
• D. The total number of morphemes

Answer: (C)

Clausal density gauges how tightly clauses are packed into a language sample, reflecting syntactic complexity. It looks at how many clauses—both main and subordinate—occur within each T-unit, so a higher density means more clauses per unit and, consequently, more complex sentence structure. For example, a sentence like “The boy who wore a red hat ran away” has a main clause (ran away) plus a subordinate relative clause (who wore a red hat) attached to the subject, giving a density above one and signaling greater syntactic complexity. In contrast, a simple sentence like “The boy ran away” has density around one, indicating simpler syntax. Clinically, clausal density helps distinguish samples with more advanced syntax from those with simpler constructions, focusing on how clauses are combined rather than just how many morphemes or total words are used.