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Left-dislocated strings in Modern English epistolary prose

A comparison with contemporary spoken Left Dislocation
  • David Tizón-Couto
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Outside the Clause
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Abstract

This paper investigates the formal and functional features of strings that include both a left-dislocated constituent and a coreferring resumptive in the subsequent clause in Modern English letters and diaries. Such left-dislocated strings embody, to differing degrees, the reportedly speech-like and informal contemporary Left Dislocation construction. The data was analyzed according to a range of factors relating to the inner configuration of such strings (complexity, information status, animacy, resumption, continuity, etc.) and examined by means of a range of statistical tests such as linear regression. The results provide a clear and broad picture of (a) their overall usage profile in comparison with contemporary spoken Left Dislocation, (b) the processing constraints at work within them, and (c) their unlikely status as prospective markers of orality in Modern English epistolary prose.

Abstract

This paper investigates the formal and functional features of strings that include both a left-dislocated constituent and a coreferring resumptive in the subsequent clause in Modern English letters and diaries. Such left-dislocated strings embody, to differing degrees, the reportedly speech-like and informal contemporary Left Dislocation construction. The data was analyzed according to a range of factors relating to the inner configuration of such strings (complexity, information status, animacy, resumption, continuity, etc.) and examined by means of a range of statistical tests such as linear regression. The results provide a clear and broad picture of (a) their overall usage profile in comparison with contemporary spoken Left Dislocation, (b) the processing constraints at work within them, and (c) their unlikely status as prospective markers of orality in Modern English epistolary prose.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Extra-clausal constituents 1
  4. Part 1. The multifunctionality of ECCs
  5. Pragmatic markers as constructions. The case of anyway 29
  6. The (the) fact is (that) construction in English and Dutch 59
  7. Planning what to say 97
  8. Part 2. The diachronic development of ECCs
  9. Mirativity and rhetorical structure 125
  10. From clause to adverb 157
  11. Towards a unified constructional characterisation of the nonfinite periphery 177
  12. Left-dislocated strings in Modern English epistolary prose 203
  13. Part 3. ECCs in bilingual settings
  14. Extra-clausal constituents and language contact 243
  15. The role of extra-clausal constituents in bilingual speech 273
  16. Part 4. ECCs: a grammar of their own?
  17. The syntax of confirmationals 305
  18. On the grammatical status of insubordinate if-clauses 341
  19. Intensifying adverbs ‘outside the clause’ 379
  20. Aspects of discourse marker sequencing 417
  21. Index 447
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.178.08tiz

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Extra-clausal constituents 1
  4. Part 1. The multifunctionality of ECCs
  5. Pragmatic markers as constructions. The case of anyway 29
  6. The (the) fact is (that) construction in English and Dutch 59
  7. Planning what to say 97
  8. Part 2. The diachronic development of ECCs
  9. Mirativity and rhetorical structure 125
  10. From clause to adverb 157
  11. Towards a unified constructional characterisation of the nonfinite periphery 177
  12. Left-dislocated strings in Modern English epistolary prose 203
  13. Part 3. ECCs in bilingual settings
  14. Extra-clausal constituents and language contact 243
  15. The role of extra-clausal constituents in bilingual speech 273
  16. Part 4. ECCs: a grammar of their own?
  17. The syntax of confirmationals 305
  18. On the grammatical status of insubordinate if-clauses 341
  19. Intensifying adverbs ‘outside the clause’ 379
  20. Aspects of discourse marker sequencing 417
  21. Index 447
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