On so-called "conjunctions" in English

Abstract

I explore here the status of those expressions in English traditionally labelled "conjunctions", as seen from the perspective of notional grammar (see particularly Anderson 2006, 2011). Among "subordinating conjunctions", which subordinate sentential structures to lower-ranking constructions, I distinguish between those that introduce a non-locative argument of the superordinate clause and those which introduce a locative, typically a circumstantial. The former subordinate conjunctions belong to a category that is optionally realized independently as that. The latter involve in addition a superordinate locative structure, possibly abstract, that specifies the kind of circumstance or participation attributed to the subordinate clause. Other varieties of sentential subordination complicate this picture. As concerns "coordinating conjunctions", "simple coordination" is achieved by a category, realized centrally by and or or, that, prototypically, simultaneously modifies and takes as a complement instances of the same other category; the "conjunction", thus, contrary to the prevailing view, involves subordination of both the conjunction and the second instance of the "conjoined category". "Correlative coordination", exemplified by either ... or, involving a quantifier and a conjunction, is again subordinating.