Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Abbreviations
- Preface
- Part I A framework for analysing adverbials
- Part II Adverbial positions: theme, cohesion and information dynamics
- Part III Semantic types of adverbials: subtypes, frequencies and usage
- Part IV Adjunct adverbials in English
- 12 Adverbial usage across text types
- 13 The grammar of English adjuncts: summary of findings and concluding remarks
- Appendix
- References
- Index
13 - The grammar of English adjuncts: summary of findings and concluding remarks
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Abbreviations
- Preface
- Part I A framework for analysing adverbials
- Part II Adverbial positions: theme, cohesion and information dynamics
- Part III Semantic types of adverbials: subtypes, frequencies and usage
- Part IV Adjunct adverbials in English
- 12 Adverbial usage across text types
- 13 The grammar of English adjuncts: summary of findings and concluding remarks
- Appendix
- References
- Index
Summary
Research questions revisited
The present study set out to explore the following aspects of adjunct adverbials: (i) syntactic and semantic categories; (ii) the frequency of such adverbials and their subcategories; (iii) the placement of such adverbials; and (iv) discourse functions of such adverbials.
The first part involved a discussion of the classification of adverbials, and of the adjunct category in particular. Previous studies, including reference grammars, differ greatly in their classification schemes. Thus it was necessary to establish a framework for the classification of adjuncts before embarking on the analysis proper. A relatively wide definition of ‘adjunct’ was retained, much like the category of ‘circumstance adjuncts’ in Biber et al. (1999: 776).
Main findings of the preceding chapters
Semantic types (frequency and semantic complexity)
The subdivision of the adjunct category was outlined in section 2.4. The main types are space, time, manner, contingency, respect, degree, participant, comparison, situation, focus and viewpoint. These differ greatly in frequency, as shown in figure 13.1 (see also figure 2.1): time and space adjuncts alone account for 68% of all the adjuncts. Another 22% are taken up by manner and contingency adjuncts, 4% by participant adjuncts, 2% by respect, and the remaining 4% are shared by degree, comparison, situation, focus and viewpoint adjuncts.
The different types of adjunct are to some extent associated with different types of actions and situations. This can be shown by correlating adjunct types with process types, as in figure 13.2.
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- Adjunct Adverbials in English , pp. 286 - 305Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010