Nonfinite supplements in the recent history of English. Linguistic insights ; volume 286.

Minimal berieben, neuwertiges Ex. / Minimally rubbed, as new copy - This book explores subjectless ing- and edsupplement constructions in the recent history of English from a corpus-based perspective. Supplements are constructions in the clausal periphery that do not fulfil a core syntactic function within the matrix clause. Their presence (or absence) does not typically have syntactic, semantic or grammatical consequences for either the structure or the interpretation of the clause. Despite their peripheral status, supplements are prototypically linked to the main clause in different respects. The analysis of this nonfinite supplements allows for a better characterisation of the periphery of the clause in terms of more and less prototypical supplements, and describes diachronic variation in Late Modern English and Presentday English along the features that characterize the construction. - Table of Contents -- " List of figures -- List of tables -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Nonfinite supplements defined -- Terminological issues -- Characterisation of ing- and ed-supplements -- Formal and syntactic features -- Head elements -- Elements introducing supplements -- Position within the matrix clause -- Semantic features -- Control relations -- Adverbial meaning and semantic variability -- Extra-clausal status -- Subjectless nonfinite supplements and related constructions -- Summary -- Methodology: corpus linguistics and data -- Corpus linguistics -- The data: corpora and data retrieval -- Corpora -- Data retrieval -- Searching the PPCMBE -- Searching the ICE-GB -- Methodological limitations -- Database and variables -- ID -- Period -- Syntactic features -- Types of head -- Elements introducing supplements -- Position and mobility -- Semantic features -- Control relations -- Adverbial meaning -- Other structural and textual features -- Length -- Distribution of supplements across text types -- Summary -- Supplements in Late Modern English -- Formal features -- Nonfinite head elements -- Elements introducing supplements -- Position within the matrix clause -- Semantic features -- Control relations -- Revisiting control relations -- Kortmann's ( 1991 ) classification of control relations -- Adverbial meaning -- A general overview of adverbial meanings -- Meaning and head elements -- Meaning and position -- Meaning and augmentation -- Final remarks and summary -- Text types -- Summary and conclusion -- Supplements in Present-day English: a diachronic analysis from Late Modern English to the present -- Supplements in Present-day English -- Formal features -- Nonfinite head elements -- Elements introducing supplements -- Position within the matrix clause -- Semantic features -- Control relations -- Adverbial meaning -- Text types -- Towards a constructional treatment of nonfinite peripheral clauses -- Summary and conclusion -- Summary, conclusions and further research -- Summary -- Avenues for further research -- References -- Series index. ISBN 9783034342261