Patterns and Development in the English Clause System: A Corpus-Based Grammatical Overview

204 Pages·2017·4.611 MB·English

by  Clarence Green (auth.)

Clarence Green
Patterns and
Development
in the English
Clause System
A Corpus-Based Grammatical Overview
Patterns and Development in the English
Clause System
Clarence Green
Patterns and Development
in the English Clause System
A Corpus-Based Grammatical Overview
123
Clarence Green
Department ofEnglish Language
andLiterature,National Institute
ofEducation
NanyangTechnological University
Singapore
Singapore
ISBN978-981-10-2880-9 ISBN978-981-10-2881-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2881-6
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016954522
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Preface
This book was written as the culmination of a research programme that spanned
several years. The motivation for this book is to offer a work that describes the
features and properties of the English clause system, explores the theoretical and
empirical significance of these properties, and outlines the challenges of under-
standing the system from a cognitive perspective. It presents a series of intercon-
nected studies that investigate English clause combination both diachronically and
synchronically and, it is hoped, develops a reasonably coherent description of the
grammaranditspatternsinrelationtootherfeaturesofEnglishdiscourse.Thebook
draws on innovations in corpus linguistics over the past few decades, such as the
development of syntactically parsed corpora that represent both contemporary
spoken and written English, as well as the language’s historical development from
Old English through to the modern era. It is only through the efforts of other
scholars who have developed these resources and made them available to the
scholarly communitythat sucha book hasbecome possible. The studies contained
herein draw upon the new resources to explore the cognitive-functional theory of
language,knownastheAdaptiveApproachtoGrammar:atheorywhichhasmade
major contributions to the field of functional linguistics over the years. In recent
times, corpus linguistics and cognitive-functional linguistics have found an
ever-increasing amount of common ground, producing new paths for interdisci-
plinaryresearch.Itisinthistraditionthatthecurrentworksituatesitselfandhopes
to make its modest contribution.
Singapore, Singapore Clarence Green
v
Contents
1 Approaches to English Clause Grammar . .... .... .... ..... .... 1
1.1 Context, Scope and Objectives... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 1
1.2 Contrasting Conceptions of English Grammar ... .... ..... .... 4
1.3 The Adaptive Approach to Grammar .. .... .... .... ..... .... 8
References.. .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 14
2 Clause Combination in English . .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 17
2.1 Introduction .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 17
2.2 Function-first Descriptions of the English Clause System.... .... 19
2.2.1 The Collins Cobuild English Grammar... .... ..... .... 19
2.2.2 A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. .... 21
2.3 Form-first Descriptions of the English Clause System . ..... .... 26
2.3.1 The Longman Grammar of Spoken
and Written English . .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 26
2.3.2 The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language .. .... 28
2.4 The Concept of Clause Hierarchy. .... .... .... .... ..... .... 32
2.4.1 A Hierarchy for the English Clause System ... ..... .... 35
2.4.2 Some Patterns of the Clause Hierarchy... .... ..... .... 40
2.5 Summary .. .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 45
References.. .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 45
3 Gradience in English Clause Combination .... .... .... ..... .... 47
3.1 Introduction .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 47
3.2 Fuzzy Grammar . .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 47
3.3 Gradience Across the Clause Hierarchy .... .... .... ..... .... 49
3.4 A Dissimilarity Matrix for the English Clause System. ..... .... 55
3.4.1 Patterns of Dissimilarity in a Corpus Sample .. ..... .... 57
3.5 Discussion: Prototypes and Radial Category Members. ..... .... 60
3.6 Conclusion. .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 68
References.. .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 68
vii
viii Contents
4 The English Clause Hierarchy Over History... .... .... ..... .... 71
4.1 Introduction .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 71
4.2 An Overview of Clause Combination in Old
and Middle English .. ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 72
4.3 Theories of Grammatical Change. .... .... .... .... ..... .... 78
4.3.1 The Theory and Evidence for Inertia in Diachronic
Syntax... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 78
4.3.2 The Theory and Evidence for Syntaxis in Diachronic
Syntax... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 80
4.4 A Corpus Investigation of Diachronic Syntax.... .... ..... .... 83
4.4.1 Corpus Data .. ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 84
4.4.2 Procedures.... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 85
4.4.3 Results .. .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 88
4.5 Linguistic Drift in the English Clause System ... .... ..... .... 98
4.6 Caveats and Limitations.... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 106
4.7 Summary .. .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 107
References.. .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 107
5 Historical Development According to Genre and Dialect. ..... .... 111
5.1 Introduction .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 111
5.2 Genre Variation . .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 112
5.3 Dialect Variation. .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 114
5.4 A Corpus Investigation of Genre and Dialect.... .... ..... .... 116
5.4.1 Corpus Data .. ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 116
5.4.2 Procedures.... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 117
5.4.3 Genre Results . ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 117
5.4.4 Dialect Distributions in the PENN-YCOE Corpus. ..... .... 139
5.5 Discussion and Summary... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 144
References.. .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 146
6 Discourse Coherence and Clause Combination. .... .... ..... .... 149
6.1 Introduction .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 149
6.2 Cohesion and Coherence ... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 150
6.3 Interaction Between Clause Combination and Cohesion..... .... 154
6.4 Interaction Between Clause Combination and Coherence.... .... 158
6.4.1 Rhetorical Structure Theory ... .... .... .... ..... .... 159
6.4.2 Rhetorical Relations Applied to Clause Combination . .... 160
6.5 Summary .. .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 166
References.. .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 166
7 Isomorphic Development and English Clause Combination.... .... 169
7.1 Introduction .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 169
7.2 Isomorphism and the Clause Hierarchy .... .... .... ..... .... 170
7.3 Spoken and Written Language ... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 171
7.4 Language Acquisition and Development.... .... .... ..... .... 172
7.5 Direct Considerations of Isomorphism . .... .... .... ..... .... 174
Contents ix
7.6 A Corpus Study of Isomorphic Patterns and Development... .... 176
7.6.1 Corpus Data .. ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 176
7.6.2 Results .. .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 179
7.7 Corpus Evidence for Isomorphism Along the Hierarchy..... .... 184
7.8 Summary .. .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 188
References.. .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 189
8 General Discussion and Evaluation of the Research. .... ..... .... 191
8.1 Introduction .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 191
8.2 Summary of the Research... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 191
8.3 Cognitive Efficiency and the Clause Hierarchy... .... ..... .... 194
8.4 Caveats and Limitations.... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 196
8.5 Conclusion. .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 197
References.. .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 198
Chapter 1
Approaches to English Clause Grammar
1.1 Context, Scope and Objectives
Thisbook isnotacomplete grammar oftheEnglishlanguage.It will have little to
say about significant features of English grammar such as the parts of speech, the
syntaxofphrases,therulesgoverningconcordandotheraspectsofthesystem.Itis
not that these are unimportant to the topic of the clause grammar of English,
howevertheyhavereceivedextensivecoverageintheexcellentreferencebookson
English grammar that have been published over the past few decades, such as the
Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (Quirk et al. 1985), the
Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English (Biber et al. 1999) the Collins
Cobuild Grammar (Sinclair 1990) and the Cambridge Grammar of English
(HuddlestonandPullum2002).Rather,thescopeofthisbookisconstrainedtothe
English clause system from the perspective of clause combination. How the
grammar of clause combination functions in English, and how the system patterns
and develops both in the contemporary language and over historical time, is a less
studied area of English grammar, though of great importance to understanding the
system. This is the focus of the book.
There are several reasons why English clause combination is worthy of a book
unto itself, but the most straightforward one is that human communication is
overwhelminglyaseriesofconnectedpropositions(Halliday1985,p.216)andnot
a series ofindependent clauses ordecontextualizedutterances as one might findin
some books on English grammar. A grammatical description of the English clause
system that focuses more on the internal properties of, for example, the relative
clause, without giving equal or perhaps more weight to the inter-propositional
functions of this clause in relation to its surrounding discourse, presents an
incompletepictureofgrammar.Thisclaim,asthebookhopestodemonstrate,isnot
an overstatement of the importance of some obscure aspect of English grammar;
rather, the study of clause combination has important theoretical and empirical
consequences for an understanding of language (Givón 2001). Further, clause
©SpringerNatureSingaporePteLtd.2017 1
C.Green,PatternsandDevelopmentintheEnglishClauseSystem,
DOI10.1007/978-981-10-2881-6_1
2 1 ApproachestoEnglishClauseGrammar
combination is a particularly challenging area of English grammar for the linguist
andstudentofthelanguagealike.Considerthatthereismuchlessagreementabout
howtodescribetheEnglishclausesystemthanthereisabouttheothergrammatical
features such as parts of speech and phrasal units. It has long been the case that a
computer can be programmed to automatically code with reasonable accuracy
(95 %orhigher)whetherawordisanoun,verb,adjectiveoradverb(Baker2010;
Meyer 2002); however, theday that this can be done with similar accuracy for the
English clause system has not yet arrived. Perhaps the reader coming to this book
has already read several grammars of English before and noticed this variation in
how grammars define relative clauses, adverbial clauses, participle clauses and the
other members of the clause system. The reasons for this are explored at length in
the following chapters.
The motivation for this book is to offer a work that describes the features and
properties of the English clause system, explores the theoretical and empirical
significance of these properties and outlines the challenges of understanding the
system.ItpresentsaseriesofinterconnectedstudiesthatinvestigateEnglishclause
combination and, it is hoped, develops a reasonably coherent description of the
grammar and its patterns in relation to other features of English discourse, both
synchronically and diachronically. The book draws on innovations in corpus lin-
guisticsoverthepastfewdecades,suchasthedevelopmentofsyntacticallyparsed
corporathatrepresentbothcontemporaryspokenandwrittenEnglish,aswellasthe
language’s historical development from Old English onward. The tradition of
corpus-based, cognitive-functional linguistics has been growing steadily in recent
times (Biber et al. 1999; Bybee 2010; Hilpert 2014), and it is in this tradition that
the current work situates itself.
Whiletheoreticallinguisticsisbynomeansthemainfocusofthebook,themain
framework deployed in the following chapters to explore and describe English
clause combination is Givón’s (1979, 2015) Adaptive Approach to Grammar.
However, this theory is not accepted wholesale and at several points falsifiable
research designs are used to test the assumptions of this model and its explanatory
power. Other schools of thought are also drawn on in the studies throughout the
book, including Construction Grammar (Goldberg 2006; Hilpert 2014), Cognitive
Grammar (Langacker 2008), Fuzzy Grammar (Aarts 2007), Systemic Functional
Linguistics(Halliday2002)andRhetoricalStructureTheory(MannandThompson
1988).
The book covers substantial ground, ranging from describing the clause system
as a hierarchy in the contemporary English language, to tracing its historical
development,toexploringitsinteractionincorporawithdiscoursecoherence.Each
chapterhasitsownspecificfocusandresearchdesignappropriatetotheaspectsof
the clause system being investigated; yet, what every chapter shares is the same
coreconcernwiththerelationshipbetweentheclausesystemandcognition.Given
the organization of the book, the reader is free to read independently only those
sections that interest them without necessarily needing to read the book cover to
cover. Having said that, each study in this book is interconnected, with the fol-
lowing underlying research questions in common: