Appositive relative clauses in English : discourse functions and competing structures
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Appositive relative clauses in English : discourse functions and competing structures
(Studies in discourse and grammar / editors, Sandra A. Thompson, Paul J. Hopper, v. 22)
John Benjamins, c2010
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [219]-226) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This book sheds new light on Appositive Relative Clauses (ARCs), a structure that is generally studied from a merely syntactic point of view, in opposition to Determinative (or Restrictive) Relative Clauses (DRCs). In this volume, ARCs are examined from a discourse/pragmatic point of view, independently of DRCs, in order to provide a positive definition of the structure. After a presentation of the morphosyntactic, semantic and pragmatic characteristics of ARCs, a taxonomy of their functions in discourse is established for both written and spoken English based on the results of a corpus-based investigation. Constraints are then defined within an information-packaging approach to syntactic structures to show why speakers choose ARCs over other competing allostructures, i.e. syntactic structures that fulfil similar discourse functions (e.g. nominal appositives, independent clauses, adverbials, noun premodifiers, topicalization). The end result is a deeper understanding of the richness of ARCs in their natural contexts of use.
Table of Contents
- 1. Acknowledgements
- 2. Introduction
- 3. Part I. Appositive relative clauses (ARCs): Definitions, previous studies, typical and atypical syntactic realizations
- 4. Chapter 1. Definitions and previous studies
- 5. Chapter 2. Atypical appositive relative clauses
- 6. Part II. The discourse functions of ARCs: A suggested taxonomy for written and spoken English
- 7. Chapter 3. The corpus: ARCs in usage
- 8. Chapter 4. The discourse functions of ARCs: A taxonomy
- 9. Part III. ARCs and their competing "allostructures"
- 10. Chapter 5. Definition of ARCs' allostructures, with particular emphasis on nominal appositives
- 11. Chapter 6. Appositive relative clauses and their other competing allostructures
- 12. Conclusion
- 13. References
- 14. Appendix
- 15. Index
by "Nielsen BookData"