Your browser does not support the PubReader view.
Go to this page to see a list of supporting browsers.
The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics
[ Article ]
Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 20, No. 1, pp.411-426
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print)
Print publication date 31 Mar 2020
Received 13 Aug 2020 Revised 16 Sep 2020 Accepted 21 Sep 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.20..202009.411

The English Absolute Constructions

Yangsoon Kim
Hanbat National University


Copyright 2020 KASELL
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the syntactic and semantic properties of the absolute constructions in English from a synchro-diachronic perspective. The non-finite adverbial adjunct clause with an overt subject is referred to as an absolute clause, in which “absolute” is manifested from two aspects: an overt subject which is not coreferential with the subject of the main clause and no need of conjunction. This paper is mainly concerned with three questions: (i) what syntactic and semantic properties the absolute clauses have; (ii) why a subject cannot be deleted in the absolute clauses unlike other ~ing (participial) free adjuncts; (iii) why the absolute clauses are productive in PDE. Following Kortmann (1991), two types of the absolute clauses are discussed here: the augmented absolute clause, [with + NPsubj + modifiers] and the unaugmented absolute clause, [NPsubj + ~ing]. I propose a TP-adjoined CP structure for the unaugmented absolute clause and a TP-adjoined PP structure for the augmented absolute clause, providing an explicit structural and semantic explanation for the first and second questions (i) and (ii). The answer to the question (iii) is based on the diachronic explanation of Latinism and the grammaticalization process since the Middle English period.

Keywords:

absolute construction, (un)augmented absolute clause, overt subject, TP-adjoined CP, TP-adjoined PP

References

  • Biber, D., S. Johansson, G. Leech, S. Conrad and E. Finegan. 1999. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
  • Crystal, D. 2008. A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (6th ed.). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
  • Fonteyn, L. and H. Cuyckens. 2013. The development of free adjuncts in English and Dutch. Leuven Working Papers in Linguistics 13, 160-195.
  • Fuhre, P. 2010. The English –ing participial free adjunct in original and translated fiction: an English-Norwegian parallel corpus study. Master’s thesis, University of Oslo.
  • Halliday, M. and C. Matthiessen. 2014. Halliday’s Introduction to Functional Grammar (4th ed.). London: Routledge. [https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203431269]
  • Hannay, M. and J. Mackenzie. 2002. Effective Writing in English: A Sourcebook. Bussum: Coutinho.
  • Jespersen, O. 1940. A Modern English grammar on Historical Principles, Part V (Vol. IV): Syntax. Copenhagen: Ejnar Munksgaard.
  • Killie, K. and T. Swan. 2009. The grammaticalization and subjectification of Adverbial -ing clauses (converb clauses) in English. English Language and Linguistics 13, 337-363. [https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360674309990141]
  • König E. and J. van der Auwera. 1990. Adverbial participles, gerunds and absolute constructions in the language of Europe. In B. Johannes, B. Giuluano and B. Claude, eds., Toward a typology of European languages, 337-355. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. [https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110863178.337]
  • Kortman, B. 1991. Free Adjuncts and Absolutes in English: Problems of Control and Interpretation. London & New York: Routledge.
  • Kortman, B. 1995. Adverbial participial clauses in English. In M. Haspelmath and E. König, eds., Converbs in Cross-linguistic Perspective, 189-237. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
  • Miguel, E. 1992. El Aspecto en la Sintaxis del Español: Perfectividad e Impersonalidad. Ediciones de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid.
  • Murphy, M. 2010. Lexical Meaning. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press. [https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511780684]
  • Quirk, R. and S. Greenbaum. 1973. A University Grammar of English. London: Longman.
  • Quirk, R., S. Greenbaum, G. Leech and J. Svartvik. 1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.
  • Rio-Rey, C. 2002. Subject control and coreference in Early Modern English free adjuncts and absolutes. English Language and Linguistics 6(2), 309-323. [https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360674302000254]
  • van de Pol, N. and H. Cuyckens. 2013. In absolute detail: the development of English absolute constructions from adverbial to additional-context marker. ICAME. Santiago de Compostella 34, 22-26.
  • van de Pol, N. and H. Cuyckens. 2014. The diffusion of English absolutes: A diachronic register study. In K. Davidse, C. Gentens, L. Ghesquiere and L. Vandelanotte. eds., Corpus Interrogation and Grammatical Patterns: Studies in Corpus Linguistics, 265-294. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. [https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.63.19pol]
  • van de Pol, N. and P. Petré. 2015. Why is there a Present-day English absolute? Studies in Language 39-1, 199-229. [https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.39.1.07pol]

Yangsoon Kim, Professor125 Dongseo-daero, Yuseoung-gu, Daejeon City 34158, KoreaDepartment of English Language and LiteratureHanbat National UniversityE-mail: yskim@hanbat.ac.kr