On the Blurred Boundaries Between Superordinate and Subordinate Clauses in English

Authors

  • Vladan Pavlović

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18485/bells.2018.10.5

Keywords:

superordinate clauses, subordinate clauses, syntax, discourse, complements, adjuncts, gradience, intersubjectivity

Abstract

The paper addresses superordinate and subordinate clauses in English. It focuses on how blurred the distinction between the two categories becomes when syntactic criteria are paired with discourse ones – the structures that are syntactically superordinate may turn out to be “discourse subordinate”, and vice versa. More generally, the paper aims to show that the various aspects of linguistic analysis, in this case primarily the syntactic and discourse ones, are tightly intertwined, and that viewing syntactic structures in terms of their discourse functions may help us perceive the gradient and fuzzy nature of the boundaries of linguistic categories, and point to their gradient contribution to overall discourse progress.

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Published

2018-11-21

How to Cite

Pavlović, V. (2018). On the Blurred Boundaries Between Superordinate and Subordinate Clauses in English. Belgrade English Language and Literature Studies, 10(1), 85–103. https://doi.org/10.18485/bells.2018.10.5

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 1 (2018): BELLS - volume 10

Section

THEORETICAL AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS

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