Subordination in English

Subordination in English PDF Author: Elena Seoane
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110583577
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
This book provides a collection of articles on subordination in English framed from both a synchronic and a diachronic perspective. It covers ample areas of the history of the major subordinated structures of English and their recent development in various native and non-native varieties. Most contributions are based on large electronic databases and corpora of written and spoken texts. The book focuses on the continuum that links subordinated and coordinated structures in a fluid way, shows their permanent state of flux, and sheds light on the whole system's dynamic essence by discussing a large number of explanatory principles at work in shaping it. Many of these are well-known from the grammaticalization and the Construction Grammar theories, such as the concepts of attractor, multi-sourcing, inheritance, categorial incursion, metaphorization or exaptation. This volume represents the latest trends in the field by some of its most prestigious specialists.

Subordination in English

Subordination in English PDF Author: Elena Seoane
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110583577
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 319

Get Book

Book Description
This book provides a collection of articles on subordination in English framed from both a synchronic and a diachronic perspective. It covers ample areas of the history of the major subordinated structures of English and their recent development in various native and non-native varieties. Most contributions are based on large electronic databases and corpora of written and spoken texts. The book focuses on the continuum that links subordinated and coordinated structures in a fluid way, shows their permanent state of flux, and sheds light on the whole system's dynamic essence by discussing a large number of explanatory principles at work in shaping it. Many of these are well-known from the grammaticalization and the Construction Grammar theories, such as the concepts of attractor, multi-sourcing, inheritance, categorial incursion, metaphorization or exaptation. This volume represents the latest trends in the field by some of its most prestigious specialists.

A Brief History of English Syntax

A Brief History of English Syntax PDF Author: Olga Fischer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521768586
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
An accessible, up-to-date account of the major changes in English syntax since its beginnings up to the present day.

Adverbial Subordination in English

Adverbial Subordination in English PDF Author: María Jesús Pérez Quintero
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900433419X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
This book presents a detailed corpus-based study of adverbial subordinate clauses in English within the framework of the theory of Functional Grammar. On the basis of an in-depth data analysis, this study shows that there is a systematic correlation between the semantic types of adverbial clauses, on the one hand, and the verb forms by means of which these constructions are expressed in English, on the other. In contrast to most traditional classifications, the criterion used for the semantic classification of adverbial clauses is not simply the basic meaning of the conjunction introducing the subordinate clause. Instead, the present classification is based on the systematic and consistent application of four semantic parameters: Entity Type, Time Dependency, Factuality and Presupposition. The relevance of the application of these parameters is not only that they allow to establish a complete and exhaustive typology of adverbial clauses, but also that they form the basis for four implicational hierarchies that determine the distribution of expression formats along the different semantic types of adverbial clauses. This book also constitutes a contribution to the application of Functional Grammar to the corpus-based analysis of a specific language and, more specifically, to the validation of the hierarchical model of the structure of the clause postulated within this theoretical framework.

Rethinking the Coordinate-Subordinate Dichotomy

Rethinking the Coordinate-Subordinate Dichotomy PDF Author: Jean-Christophe Verstraete
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110918196
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
This study argues that the domain traditionally covered by 'coordination' and 'subordination' in English can be subdivided into four distinct construction types. The constructions are defined on the basis of differences in their 'interpersonal' structure, i.e. the grammatical encoding of speaker-attitude and speaker-interlocutor interaction. It is shown that the four types constitute syntactically, semantically and pragmatically coherent categories, with differences in interpersonal structure defining and motivating distinct syntactic behaviour, distinct pragmatic functions and distinct semantic classes of clause linkage. The validity of the analysis is demonstrated in three ways. First, it is shown that the analysis can make sense of the wide range of apparently conflicting criteria found in the literature on complex sentences, which can now be explained as reflections of four different construction types rather than as alternative perspectives on one single contrast between coordination and subordination. Second, it is shown how the analysis can deal with two specific problems in the more general area of clause combining, viz. the syntactic basis of the distinction between 'content', 'epistemic' and 'speech act' levels of clause linkage, and the distinct discursive functions associated with initial and final position of adverbial clauses. Finally, it is also shown that the proposed analysis is useful beyond the analysis of English, with parallels in a number of cross-linguistically recurrent phenomena of clause linkage. The book is mainly of interest to linguistics researchers in the areas of syntax, semantics and pragmatics as well as to graduate students with a focus on these fields.

'Subordination' versus 'Coordination' in Sentence and Text

'Subordination' versus 'Coordination' in Sentence and Text PDF Author: Cathrine Fabricius-Hansen
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027290318
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
The papers collected in this volume (including a comprehensive introduction) investigate semantic and discourse-related aspects of subordination and coordination, in particular the relationship between subordination/coordination at the sentence level and subordination/coordination – or hierarchical/non-hierarchical organization – at the discourse level. The contributions in part I are concerned with central theoretical questions; part II consists of corpus-based cross-linguistic studies of clause combining and discourse structure, involving at least two of the languages English, German, Dutch, French and Norwegian; part III contains papers addressing specific – predominantly semantic – topics relating to German, English or French; and the papers in part IV approach the topic of subordination, coordination and rhetorical relations from a diachronic (Old Indic and Early Germanic) perspective. The book aims to contribute to a better understanding of information packaging on the sentence and text level related, within a particular language as well as cross-linguistically.

The Syntax of Subordination

The Syntax of Subordination PDF Author: Dagmar Haumann
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110922134
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
This study is concerned with the categorial status of subordinating conjunctions and the internal and external structure of subordinate clauses. Starting out from the categorizations of subordinating conjunctions that prevail in recent generative linguistic theory, namely complementizers and prepositions, and from the division of syntactic categories into lexical and functional ones, the author investigates the lexical and grammatical properties of subordinating conjunctions which are held to account for both the distribution and the architecture of subordinate clauses. Central to this study is the relation between the category subordinating conjunction, the licensing of its projection and the licensing of its complement and specifier position. Part I is concerned with subordination in early Generative Grammar, the rise of the category C and the categorization of subordinating conjunctions. Part II focuses on recent conceptions of phrase structure, the inventory of syntactic categories, the lexical-functional dichotomy and syntactic movement. Part III is concerned with the lexical properties of complementizers (C), prepositions (P), and a third category of subordinating conjunctions (Subcon) which conflates properties of Cs and Ps. This categorization of subordinating conjunctions is arrived at on the basis of the distribution of the phrases they head and the mechanisms by which these elements license their complement and specifier. Cs, as typical functional heads, license both theirs complement and their specifier on the basis of feature checking mechanisms; Ps, as typical lexical heads, license these positions by theta-marking them. Within SubconP the complement is licensed by feature checking as within CP, and the specifier is licensed by theta-marking as within PP.

Varieties of English

Varieties of English PDF Author: Alexander Bergs
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110523043
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 425

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Book Description
This volume is one of the first detailed expositions of the history of different varieties of English. It explores language variation and varieties of English from an historical perspective, covering theoretical topics such as diffusion and supraregionalization as well as concrete descriptions of the internal and external historical developments of more than a dozen varieties of English including American English, African American Vernacular English, Received Pronunciation, Estuary English, and English in Canada, Africa, India, Wales, among many others.

Coordination and Subordination

Coordination and Subordination PDF Author: Fernanda Pratas
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781443889506
Category : Grammar, Comparative and general
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Adverbial Subordination

Adverbial Subordination PDF Author: Bernd Kortmann
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110812428
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
Research on language universals and research on linguistic typology are not antagonistic, but rather complementary approaches to the same fundamental problem: the relationship between the amazing diversity of languages and the profound unity of language. Only if the true extent of typological divergence is recognized can universal laws be formulated. In recent years it has become more and more evident that a broad range of languages of radically different types must be carefully analyzed before general theories are possible. Typological comparison of this kind is now at the centre of linguistic research. The series empirical approaches to language typology presents a platform for contributions of all kinds to this rapidly developing field. The distinctive feature of the series is its markedly empirical orientation. All conclusions to be reached are the result of a deepened study of empirical data. General problems are focused on from the perspective of individual languages, language families, language groups, or language samples. Special emphasis is given to the analysis of phenomena from little known languages, which shed new light on long-standing problems in general linguistics. The series is open to contributions from different theoretical persuasions. It thus reflects the methodological pluralism that characterizes the present situation. Care is taken that all volumes be accessible to every linguist and, moreover, to every reader specializing in some domain related to human language. A deeper understanding of human language in general, based on a detailed analysis of typological diversity among individual languages, is fundamental for many sciences, not only for linguists. Therefore, this series has proven to be indispensable in every research library, be it public or private, which has a specialization in language and the language sciences. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Birgit Sievert.

Clause Combining in Grammar and Discourse

Clause Combining in Grammar and Discourse PDF Author: John Haiman
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027278598
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
Traditionally the study of syntax is restricted to the study of what goes on within the boundaries of the prosodic sentence. Although the nature of clause combining within a prosodic sentence has always been a central concern of traditional syntax (in GG, e.g. it underlies important research on deletion and anaphora), work within a discourse analysis framework has hardly been done. Analyses like this are given in the present volume.