word order and information structure Flashcards
What does word order signal
Syntactic function (what is the subject, what is the object)
What does word order signal 2
clause type
Word order and clause type
Subject–verbal–XX
Declarative clause type
Word order and clause type
Subject auxiliary inversion in main clause
interragative clause
Word order and clause type
usually lacking a subject
imperative clause
Word order and clause type
Wh-word first and useally a subject–auxiliary inversion
Wh-interrogative clause
Proximity principle
a phrase that realizes a clause element is usually continuous
Proximity principle exceptions
1) Verb phrases split by short adverbials
2)Verb phrases split by the subject in interrogatives
3)Phrasal verbs split by a direct object
Realization of subject- verbal inversion in declarative main clauses
Conditions:
1) subject is realized by noun phrase
2) should generally be longer than the verbal
a) after a fronted obligatory adverbial (mainly place/direction)
i.e Here is an electric car that will out-perform others
b) After fronted -ing or.ed clause which denotes existence/appearance
i.e Standing next to the bay window was a young girl
c)in reporting clauses after direct speech
i.e ‘This is dumb’, I muttered.
Realization of subject-auxiliary inversion in declarative main clauses
Conditions:
1) After certain sentence openers
a) After negative sentence opener where the negation affects the verb
i.e Never in my life have I heard such fancy talk.
b) After restrictive sentence openers
i.e only rarely were women doing similar work.
C) After initial proform so, or so + adjective or adverb (not other kinds og so!)
i.e So every body stared at him. (proform so where
so = therfore)
The information principle
Given information is presented before new information
The principle of end weight
long/heavy elements are placed at the end of the sentence
The principle of end focus
Material at the end will be highlighted in intonation
Word order variation vocab
Postponement: a clause element is placed later in the sentence than where it usually occures
fronting: a clause element that usually occurs later in the clause is placed at the front
These deviations from normal work order can be explained by the principles of end weight and the information principle and can also give double focus
Double focus
When beginning and end of clause are both brought into focus
i.e He did all the research he coudl. The rest he had to imagine. (fronting of object)
i.e He decided to fly there, and fly there he would. (fronting of main verb)
Word order and the passive
Condition:
1) The verb phrase has the passive form (BE+ past
participle
Result:
1) the subject of a passive sentence would be the
object in a cooresponding active sentence
2) the agent can be expessed in an adverbial realized
as a pp starting with by
The long passive
passive contructions with agent phrase (pp starting with by)
The short passive
passive contructions without the agent phrase (pp starting with by)
Get passive
uses verb GET instead of BE
Also more colloquial
