Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang
Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang
Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang
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Verb types and word order 53<br />
typical examples are be, appear, come, belong in <strong>the</strong> category of verbs without<br />
complement, but in <strong>the</strong> tables below I have presented <strong>the</strong>m as a separate category,<br />
because existential constructions are particularly interesting in a historical perspective,<br />
as we shall see. In o<strong>the</strong>r words, <strong>the</strong> category ‘verbs without complement’<br />
comprises verbs without complement o<strong>the</strong>r than existential verbs.<br />
Clauses with passive verb phrases have been excluded, except for a few cases<br />
where <strong>the</strong> passive verb phrase has a copular function or existential meaning. In (4),<br />
<strong>the</strong> verb phrase wæs funden has existential meaning, and has been included in <strong>the</strong><br />
category of existential verbs, and (5) is an example of a passive copular verb:<br />
(4) 7 þær wæs ungemetlic micel licgende feoh funden on ðæm wicstowum<br />
and <strong>the</strong>re was immeasurable much ready money found at <strong>the</strong> camp<br />
“and immeasurably much ready money was found at <strong>the</strong> camp” (Or 69: 3)<br />
(5) and sir Baudewyn of Bretayne was made constable (Arthur 16: 33)<br />
The reason for operating with this mixture of syntactic and semantic categories is<br />
to be able to relate word order not only to syntax, but also to semantics and information<br />
structure, without having to operate with categories that are too small in<br />
relation to <strong>the</strong> size of <strong>the</strong> corpus.<br />
3. Analysis and discussion<br />
As mentioned in <strong>the</strong> introduction, <strong>the</strong> main aim of this paper is to compare noncoordinate<br />
and coordinate clauses with respect to <strong>the</strong> distribution of verb types in<br />
<strong>the</strong> different word order patterns in <strong>the</strong> four periods. Non-coordinate clauses and<br />
coordinate clauses, though both are main clauses, are presumably not functionally<br />
identical, and a study of <strong>the</strong> verbs may give us information about what characterizes<br />
<strong>the</strong>se two clause types. Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore, studying <strong>the</strong> verbs not only in relation to <strong>the</strong><br />
distinction between non-coordinate and coordinate clauses, but also in relation to<br />
<strong>the</strong> word order patterns within <strong>the</strong>se clause types, may throw some light on <strong>the</strong><br />
functional differences between <strong>the</strong> word orders. Finally, <strong>the</strong> diachronic data show<br />
<strong>the</strong> historical development of <strong>the</strong>se particular structures.<br />
The basic assumption is that coordinate clauses have an elaborating or modifying<br />
function (Traugott 1992: 277) and that <strong>the</strong>y may <strong>the</strong>refore relate to <strong>the</strong> immediate<br />
previous context in a more direct way than non-coordinate clauses. According to<br />
Quirk et al. (1985: 930ff.), <strong>the</strong> main function of <strong>the</strong> coordinate clause does not lie in<br />
establishing what <strong>the</strong> action is, but ra<strong>the</strong>r how it relates to <strong>the</strong> preceding sentence, by<br />
expressing e.g., contrast, explanation, consequence, result or addition. This does not<br />
mean that non-coordinate clauses do not relate to <strong>the</strong> previous context, but it is not a<br />
necessary condition; non-coordinate clauses may introduce a completely new topic.