Syntactic and semantic properties of adjuncts in initial position

The distribution of semantic types

Initial position is the second most common position for adjuncts, accounting for approximately 12% of the adjuncts comprised in the present study. The distribution of semantic types found in initial position is shown in table 4.1.

The semantic types of adjunct differ greatly as to their frequency of occurrence in initial position, as shown in the second column of table 4.1. The types most frequently found in initial position are time, contingency and space adjuncts. Other types are comparatively rare. The third column shows the probability for each semantic type to occur in initial position, i.e. the percentage of the total number of time adjuncts etc. that occur in initial position. This percentage is more clearly visualised in figure 4.1, showing that situation adjuncts are most likely and degree adjuncts least likely to be thematised. For most types of adjunct, initial position is a marked option, markedness being viewed here as a scalar property. It is thus less marked for situation, viewpoint, comparison/alternative, contingency and time adjuncts than it is for the other types.

Obligatoriness and scope

Only 22 out of the 553 adjuncts occurring in initial position (4%) are syntactically obligatory. With only one exception, these are space position adjuncts. In 19 out of the 22 cases, the adjunct triggers inversion of subject and verb, as shown in (1).