Clausal Density and Embedding Depth as Dimensions of Finite Clausal Complexity: Associations With CET‐Based L2 Writing Performance

ABSTRACT

This study examines how finite clausal complexity relates to L2 writing performance by distinguishing clausal density (CD), the accumulation of finite subordinate clauses, from embedding depth (ED), their hierarchical nesting. Using 566 timed CET compositions from the Chinese Learner English Corpus, sentence‐level CD and ED were manually annotated and analyzed across six CET‐based writing‐performance bands. Results show that both measures were weakly but significantly associated with variation across CET‐based writing‐performance bands and in different ways. CD displayed broader but modest variation across bands, whereas ED reflected a more constrained dimension of hierarchical organization. In joint models, CD retained a modest independent association, while ED overlapped empirically with CD and did not contribute independent information. Length‐adjusted analyses further showed that the CD pattern was not reducible to composition length, although overall explanatory power remained limited. The findings indicate that finite clausal complexity should be treated as multidimensional, with clause accumulation and hierarchical embedding capturing related but non‐identical aspects of finite clausal organization. However, neither CD nor ED should be interpreted as a strong diagnostic measure of L2 writing performance.