PART ONE

ANALYSING SENTENCE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION

 Brno Studies in English
Volume 35, No. 2, 2009
ISSN 0524-6881

JANA CHAMONIKOLASOV

WORD ORDER AND LINEAR MODIFICATION IN ENGLISH

Abstract
7KH SDSHU H[DPLQHV WKH UROH RI OLQHDU PRGLFDWLRQ LQ VKDSLQJ WKH V\QWDFWLF
VWUXFWXUHRIDQ(QJOLVKVHQWHQFH/LQHDUPRGLFDWLRQWKHSULQFLSOHRISUHVHQW-
ing ideas in an order of gradual rise in importance co-determines word order in
DOO,QGR(XURSHDQODQJXDJHVWKRXJKLWLVOHVVSRZHUIXOLQODQJXDJHVZLWK[HG
ZRUGRUGHUWKDQLQODQJXDJHVZLWKH[LEOHZRUGRUGHU(QJOLVKV\QWD[FKDQJHG
TXLWHVLJQLFDQWO\RQWKHZD\IURP2OG(QJOLVKWR0RGHUQ(QJOLVK7KHVKLIW
IURPH[LEOHZRUGRUGHUWR[HGZRUGRUGHUZKLFKZDVFORVHO\UHODWHGWRFHU-
tain phonological and morphological features of English, was accompanied by
DUHGXFWLRQRIWKHSRZHURIOLQHDUPRGLFDWLRQDVDZRUGRUGHUSULQFLSOH7KH
paper tests this reduction by an analysis of written Old English and Modern
English texts.

Key words
:RUGRUGHUOLQHDUPRGLFDWLRQIXQFWLRQDOVHQWHQFHSHUVSHFWLYH2OG(QJOLVK
Modern English; word-order principles

7KHFRQFHSWRIOLQHDUPRGLFDWLRQ

The term OLQHDU PRGLFDWLRQ was introduced in linguistic theory by Bolinger

(1952: 1125), who claims that within a sentence, gradation of position creates
gradation of meaning when there are no interfering factors. Bolingers study of
the relationship between syntax and semantics suggests that speakers and writers
tend to express pieces of information in order of increasing information value.
The placement of less important (context dependent or accessible) ideas in initial
SRVLWLRQ DQG PRUH LPSRUWDQW LGHDV LQ QDO SRVLWLRQ UHHFWV WKH SURFHVVHV WDN-
ing place in the communication participants minds. Word order respecting linear
18 JANA CHAMONIKOLASOV

PRGLFDWLRQLVUHIHUUHGWRDVobjectiveDQGZRUGRUGHUYLRODWLQJOLQHDUPRGLFD-
tion as subjectiveVHH0DWKHVLXV%HORZDUHH[DPSOHVRIREMHFWLYH
DQGVXEMHFWLYHZRUGRUGHU

(1) In the middle of the night the villagers heard a fearsome cry.
(2) A fearsome cry could be heard in the middle of the night.

2. Word order and information structure

Mathesius (1975: 15363), Firbas (1992: 117140) and Vachek (1994: 3240)
identify principles determining word order in Indo-European languages. The most
important are the linearity principle (ordering elements in accordance with linear
PRGLFDWLRQ DQG WKH JUDPPDWLFDO SULQFLSOH RUGHULQJ HOHPHQWV LQ DFFRUGDQFH
with a grammaticalized word-order pattern).1 The linearity principle is stronger
LQODQJXDJHVZLWKH[LEOHZRUGRUGHUWKHVSHDNHUVRIZKLFKDUHDEOHWRSURGXFH
JUDGDWLRQRIPHDQLQJPRUHHDVLO\WKDQVSHDNHUVRIODQJXDJHVZLWK[HGZRUG
order, in which the linearity principle is subordinate to the grammatical principle.
,Q (QJOLVK WKH JUDPPDWLFDO SULQFLSOH HQIRUFHV WKH VHTXHQFH VXEMHFW 6 YHUE
9REMHFW2FRPSOHPHQW&DGYHUELDO$6LQFHREMHFWVFRPSOHPHQWVDQG
DGYHUELDOVRIWHQH[SUHVVPRUHLPSRUWDQWLGHDVWKDQVXEMHFWVDODUJHQXPEHURI
English sentences observe the grammatical principle without necessarily violat-
ing the linearity principle.
/LQHDUPRGLFDWLRQRSHUDWHVQRWRQO\DWWKHV\QWDFWLFOHYHOEXWDOVRDWWKHOHYHO
of information structure of a sentence. According to the Brno theory of function-
al sentence perspective created by Firbas, the interpretation of the information
VWUXFWXUHRIDVHQWHQFHUHOLHVRQVSHFLFV\QWDFWLFVHPDQWLFFRQWH[WXDODQGLQ
spoken language prosodic criteria (cf. e.g. Firbas 1989 and 1992; Dukov 1985
and 2002; Svoboda 1981 and 1989; and Chamonikolasov 2005 and 2007). Dif-
ferent degrees of communicative prominence (dynamism) carried by communi-
cative units (sentence elements) correspond to different FSP functions. A simpli-
HGVFDOHVWDUWLQJZLWKWKHOHDVWG\QDPLFLHWKHPDWLFHOHPHQWVDQGHQGLQJZLWK
the most dynamic, i.e. rhematic elements is presented below:

theme proper (ThPr)

diatheme (DTh)
transition proper (TrPr)
transition (Tr)
rheme (Rh)
rheme proper (RhPr)

6HQWHQFHVZLWKREMHFWLYHZRUGRUGHUVWDUWLQJZLWKWKHPDWLFHOHPHQWVDQGHQGLQJ
ZLWKUKHPDWLFHOHPHQWVFRPSO\ZLWKWKHSULQFLSOHRIOLQHDUPRGLFDWLRQZKLOHLQ
VHQWHQFHVZLWKVXEMHFWLYHZRUGRUGHUVWDUWLQJZLWKUKHPDWLFHOHPHQWVDQGHQGLQJ
 WORD ORDER AND LINEAR MODIFICATION IN ENGLISH 19

ZLWKWKHPDWLFHOHPHQWVOLQHDUPRGLFDWLRQLVYLRODWHGFIH[DPSOHVDQG3U
SDUWLDOYLRODWLRQRIWKHSULQFLSOHRIOLQHDUPRGLFDWLRQRFFXUVHJLQVHQWHQFHV
with a rhematic element in penultimate position followed by a thematic element
LQQDOSRVLWLRQ

3. Word order in Modern English

As mentioned above, Modern English is an analytical language with limited mor-

SKRORJLFDO YDULDWLRQ DQG D UHODWLYHO\ [HG ZRUG RUGHU JRYHUQHG E\ WKH JUDP-
matical principle. Owing to the operation of the grammatical principle, variation
within word-order patterns in English is rather limited. Unmarked sentence pat-
WHUQVFRQWDLQDVXEMHFWLPPHGLDWHO\IROORZHGE\WKHYHUE7KHUHPDLQLQJVHQWHQFH
elements occur in post-verbal positions; non-obligatory adverbials are alterna-
WLYHO\SODFHGEHIRUHWKHVXEMHFWLQLQLWLDOSRVLWLRQ4XLUNHWDO
lists the following unmarked sentence patterns:

(3) SV The sun is shining.

(4) SVO Hell get a surprise.
(5) SVC Hes getting angry.
(6) SVA He got through the window.
(7) SVOO He got her a splendid present.
(8) SVOC Most students have found her reasonably helpful.
(9) SVOA He got himself into trouble.

The sentences above all observe the leading grammatical principle. With the ex-
ception of sentence (3), they also observe the linearity principle: they start with
thematic context-dependent or easily accessible elements carrying low degrees of
communicative dynamism and end with context-independent rhematic elements.
When occurring in the most natural context, sentence (3) is interpreted as a
sentence presenting the rhematic phenomenon the sunRQWKHVFHQH7KHVXEMHFW
carries the highest degree of communicative dynamism and the highest degree of
prosodic prominence (indicated by capitalization):

(3-Pr) [What is the weather like today?] The SUN is shining.

8QGHUYHU\VSHFLDOFRQWH[WXDOFRQGLWLRQVWKHVXEMHFWRIH[DPSOHFDQSHUIRUP
the function of a thematic quality bearer; the highest degree of communicative
dynamism is then carried by its quality shining:

4 >7KHVXQLVQRZSUREDEO\KLGGHQLQWKHFORXGVLVQWLW"@1R7KHVXQLV
SHINING.
20 JANA CHAMONIKOLASOV

([DPSOH4LVLQKDUPRQ\ZLWKERWKWKHJUDPPDWLFDODQGWKHOLQHDULW\SULQ-

ciples. Example (3-Pr) complies with the grammatical principle but violates the
linearity principle its word order is subjective. The sun is rhematic but has to
EH SODFHG LQ WKH LQLWLDO SRVLWLRQ EHFDXVH LW IXOOV WKH V\QWDFWLF IXQFWLRQ RI WKH
VXEMHFW7KHJUDPPDWLFDOSULQFLSOHLQWKLVFDVHDFWVDVDIDFWRULQWHUIHULQJZLWKD
gradual rise in communicative value. 2 However, the deviation from the linearity
principle, which is subordinate to the grammatical principle in English, does not
render the sentence marked.3
Although the grammatical principle is superior to the linearity principle in Eng-
lish, in certain types of existential sentences, the struggle between the two princi-
ples ends with a partial or complete victory of the subordinate linearity principle:

(10) There was a large cloud in the sky.

(11) Next to the window hung a small picture.

The development of sentences containing the existential there is related to the

QDWXUDOQHHGRIWKHVSHDNHUWRSUHVHQWLGHDVLQWKHREMHFWLYHRUGHUVHH%UHLYLN
1983). The operator thereRFFXSLHVWKHLQLWLDOSRVLWLRQRIWKHJUDPPDWLFDOVXEMHFW
satisfying the grammatical principle; the postponement of the actual rhematic
VXEMHFWSKHQRPHQRQ VDWLVHV WKH OLQHDULW\ SULQFLSOH  ([LVWHQWLDO VHQWHQFHV
without existential there OLNH  DUH UHHFWLRQV RI HDUOLHU VWDJHV RI V\QWDFWLF
development. However, they are rather rare and mostly restricted to written lan-
guage.

4. Word order in earlier stages of the development of English

The syntactic structure of present-day English outlined above results from a sub-
stantial transformation of the syntactic structure of Old English and Middle Eng-
OLVK:KLOH2OG(QJOLVKZDVDQLQHFWHGODQJXDJHZLWKDUHODWLYHO\H[LEOHZRUG
order, in Modern English as illustrated above word order variation is very
OLPLWHG7KHVKLIWIURPH[LEOHWR[HGZRUGRUGHULVWKHUHVXOWRIDQXPEHURI
linguistic and sociolinguistic changes in the history of the English language. The
PRVWVLJQLFDQWIDFWRUDFNQRZOHGJHGE\PRVWVFKRODUVLVWKHOHYHOOLQJRILQHF-
tion accompanied by the loss of morphological signals indicating semantic rela-
tions between syntactic elements of a sentence, e.g. the relation between the agent
VXEMHFWDQGWKHSDWLHQWREMHFWRIWKHSURFHVVH[SUHVVHGE\WKHYHUE2WKHUOHVV
VLJQLFDQWIDFWRUV DIIHFWLQJWKH PHQWLRQHGWUDQVIRUPDWLRQ DUH WKH RSHUDWLRQRI
the principle of end-weight, the integration and grammaticalization of language
units expressing afterthought, and language acquisition in contact areas (cf. e.g.
Seoane 2006 and Jucker 1995).
7KHJUDGXDOPRGLFDWLRQRI(QJOLVKPRUSKRORJ\DQGV\QWD[UHVXOWHGLQDW\SR-
logical shift of English from a predominantly synthetic to a predominantly ana-
lytical language. The wide range of grammatical changes involved in this process
 WORD ORDER AND LINEAR MODIFICATION IN ENGLISH 21

have been described e.g. by Firbas (1957); Mathesius (1975); Breivik (1983) and
9DFKHN6DXHU%DHNNHQHUPiN6FKHQGO
(2001); Pintzuk and Taylor (2006); and Seoane (2006).
The syntactic change of the English language manifests itself in the word-order
patterns applied at different stages of the development of the language. Numerous
studies (e.g. Breivik 1983: 358403) describe Old English as a V2 language, i.e.,
a language with the verb-second constraint similar syntactically to Modern Ger-
man and Dutch. The common feature of languages that have or have had the verb-
VHFRQGFRQVWUDLQWLVWKHGHYHORSPHQWRIGXPP\VXEMHFWVVXFKDVWKHH[LVWHQWLDO
there or the dummy it in English (cf. Haiman 1974; Breivik 1983: 358403 and
1991). During its historical development, English changed from a verb-second
language to a verb-medial language: in Modern English, the verb has a tendency
WRIROORZWKHVXEMHFWDQGWRSUHFHGHWKHREMHFWRUDGYHUELDODQGFRPSOHPHQWEXW
not necessarily as the second element in a sentence. Even if the sentence starts
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EXWRFFXUVLQWKHPHGLDOSRVLWLRQLHDIWHUWKHDGYHUELDODQGWKHVXEMHFW
Looking at the gradual syntactic change of English from a different angle, some
authors (cf. Pintzuk and Taylor 2006) describe it as a change from an OV to a VO
ODQJXDJHLHIURPDODQJXDJHLQZKLFKWKHREMHFWSUHFHGHVWKHYHUEWRDODQJXDJH
LQZKLFKWKHREMHFWIROORZVWKHYHUE7KLVFKDQJHLVFORVHO\UHODWHGWRWKHORVVRIWKH
YHUEVHFRQGFRQVWUDLQWDQGUHSUHVHQWVMXVWDQRWKHUFRQVHTXHQFHRIWKHPDMRUVKLIW
RI(QJOLVKIURPDV\QWKHWLFLQHFWLRQDOODQJXDJHZLWKDUHODWLYHO\IUHHZRUGRUGHU
WRDQDQDO\WLFDOQRQLQHFWLRQDOODQJXDJHZLWKDJUDPPDWLFDOL]HGZRUGRUGHU

5. Analysis

7KH SRZHU RI OLQHDU PRGLFDWLRQ DV ZRUG RUGHU SULQFLSOH LQ WKH KLVWRU\ RI WKH
English language will be tested by the analysis of the communicative loads of
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material analyzed includes selected extracts from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,4
and the &KURQLFOHRI%ULWDLQDQG,UHODQG (1992).5 The Modern English chronicle
is written in a contemporary language and style but it resembles ancient chroni-
cles in form: historical events are presented as if they happened recently. The
material consists of 100 Old English and 100 Modern English sentences.
Below are examples of the analysis of the syntactic and information structure
patterns of sentences selected from the two chronicles.6 The syntactic analysis
is based on conceptions presented in $&RPSUHKHQVLYH*UDPPDURIWKH(QJOLVK
Language4XLUNDWDODQGWKH/RQJPDQ*UDPPDURI6SRNHQDQG:ULWWHQ
English%LEHUHWDO(DFKPDLQLQGHSHQGHQWFODXVHDQGHDFKFRQMRLQHG
PDLQ FODXVH LH HDFK RI WKH FODXVHV FRQMRLQHG E\ D FRRUGLQDWH FRQMXQFWLRQ
UHSUHVHQWVRQHVHQWHQFHSDWWHUQDQGRQHHOGRIGLVWULEXWLRQRIFRPPXQLFDWLYH
dynamism. Subordinate clauses are considered as a component of the main clause
functionally equivalent to simple (non-clausal) elements; clausal and non-clausal
22 JANA CHAMONIKOLASOV

sentence elements are denoted by identical symbols for example, A denotes

DGYHUELDO SKUDVHV DV ZHOO DV DGYHUELDO FODXVHV &RQMXQFWLRQV DQG UHODWLYH SUR-
nouns are considered to be in zero position and are therefore not counted as
initial elements.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:

(12) We || witon || oer igland her beeastan, r ge magon eardian gyf ge wylla.
We || know ||DERXWDQLVODQGKHUHWRWKHHDVWZKHUH\RXPD\GZHOOLI\RXZLVK
S V O
ThPr TrPr+Tr RhPr

(13) 7 gyf hwa eow wistent, || we || eow || fultumia || t ge hit magon gegangan.
 $QGLIVRPHRQHWR\RXVWDQGVXS|| we || you || will support || that you may gain it.
A S O V A
DTh ThPr ThPr TrPr+Tr RhPr

(14) a || genamon || a Walas || 7...

Then || went || the Welsh || and...
A V S
DTh TrPr+RhPr DTh

(15) Suonweard || hit || hfdon || Bryttas.

Southward || it || possessed || the Britons.
A O V S
DTh ThPr TrPr+Tr RhPr

Chronicle of Britain and Ireland:

(16) Patricius (Patrick), the missionary who converted many Irish to Christianity, || has died.
S V
RhPr TrPr+Tr

(17) (The newcomers derive from a variety of Germanic tribes)

but || [S] || fall || into three principal groups: Angles, Saxons, and Jutes.
[S] 7 V A
[ThPr] TrPr+Tr RhPr

(18) In his &RQIHVVLRQ || he || tells || how he had a second vision in which

A S V O
DTh ThPr TrPr+Tr RhPr

(19) Opposite the mouth of the Rhine || is || a great island, divided down the middle by a wall.
A V S
DTh TrPr+Tr RhPr
 WORD ORDER AND LINEAR MODIFICATION IN ENGLISH 23

6. Results

The results of the analysis of the Old English and Modern English texts are pre-
sented in Tables 16 below. Tables 1 and 2 provide a survey of word-order patterns
LQWKHWZRWH[WV7DEOHVLQGLFDWHWKHFRPPXQLFDWLYHORDGVRILQLWLDODQGQDO
VHQWHQFHHOHPHQWV(OOLSWLFDOVXEMHFWVDUHQRWLQFOXGHGLQWKHGDWDEHFDXVHWKH\
GRQRWKDYHDQ\IRUPDOUHDOL]DWLRQLQFODXVHVZLWKHOOLSWLFDOVXEMHFWVWKHLQLWLDO
position is usually occupied by the verb, performing the transitional function.

Table 1. Word-order patterns in Old English (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) 8

Basic word- Variations within the basic No. of

order pattern word-order patterns occurrences
SV (A)SV, (O)S(O)(C)V 16
SVO (A)SVO(O)(A), Sv9OV(A) 21
SVA (A)SVA(A), (A)SvAV(A) 12
SVC (A)SVC(A) 9
SOV (A)SOV(O)(A) 9
AVS (A)AV(A)(C)S(A)(O), AvSV(A) 30
OVS (A)OVS 3
Total 100

Table 2. Word-order patterns in Modern English (&KURQLFOH RI %ULWDLQ DQG

,UHODQG)

Basic word- Variations within the basic No. of

order pattern word-order patterns occurrences
SV (A)SV, S%V(A)S%10 13
SVO (A)SVO(O)(A) 15
SVA (A)SVA(A)(O), 50
SVC (A)SVC(A) 14
sVS s11V(C)(A)S(A) 7
AVS 1
Total 100

Table 3. FSP functions of initial syntactic elements in Old English (Anglo-Saxon

Chronicle)

S V O A C Total
ThPr 14 --- --- 11 --- 25
theme 85
DTh 6 --- 15 39 --- 60
TrPr+Tr transition --- 15 --- --- --- 15
RhPr rheme --- --- --- --- --- ---
Total 20 15 15 50 --- 100
24 JANA CHAMONIKOLASOV

Table 4. FSP functions of initial syntactic elements in Modern English (Chronicle

RI%ULWDLQDQG,UHODQG

S+s V O A C Total
ThPr 20 --- --- --- --- 20
theme 74
DTh 29 --- --- 25 --- 54
TrPr+Tr transition --- 17 --- --- --- 17
RhPr rheme 9 --- --- --- --- 9
Total 58 17 --- 25 --- 100

Table 5.)63IXQFWLRQVRIQDOV\QWDFWLFHOHPHQWVLQ2OG(QJOLVKAnglo-Saxon

Chronicle)

S V O A C Total
ThPr --- --- --- --- --- ---
theme 7
DTh 2 --- 1 3 --- 7
TrPr+Tr transition --- 7 --- --- --- 7
RhPr rheme 6 13 20 42 5 86
Total 8 20 21 47 5 100

Table 6.)63IXQFWLRQVRIQDOV\QWDFWLFHOHPHQWVLQ0RGHUQ(QJOLVKChronicle

RI%ULWDLQDQG,UHODQG)

S V O A C Total
ThPr --- --- 1 --- --- 1
theme 17
DTh --- --- 2 13 1 16
TrPr+Tr transition --- 3 --- --- --- 3
RhPr rheme 8 4 19 34 15 80
Total 8 7 22 47 16 100

The results of the analysis of word-order patterns presented in Tables 1 and 2

WHVWLI\WRDJUHDWHUH[LELOLW\RIZRUGRUGHULQWKH2OG(QJOLVKWH[WFRPSDUHGWR
WKH0RGHUQ(QJOLVKWH[W:KLOHWKHEDVLVRIWKHPDMRULW\RI0RGHUQ(QJOLVKVHQ-
tences (92) is the pattern SV (SV, SVA, SVO, and SVC), the Old English material
contains a greater variety of sentence patterns (SV, SOV, OVS, AVS); in almost
RQHWKLUGRIWKHPWKHVXEMHFWLVSUHFHGHGE\WKHYHUE12
Tables 3 and 4 provide a survey of syntactic and FSP functions of elements
occurring in the initial position. The most frequent in Old English are thematic
DGYHUELDOVIROORZHGE\WKHPDWLFVXEMHFWVWKHPDWLFREMHFWVDQG
WUDQVLWLRQDOYHUEV,Q0RGHUQ(QJOLVKWKHUHLVQRREMHFWLQLQLWLDOSRVLWLRQ
DQGWKHPDWLFVXEMHFWVDUHPRUHIUHTXHQWWKDQWKHPDWLFDGYHUELDOV7KH
modern English text contains 9 presentation sentences with initial rhematic sub-
MHFWVZKLFKGRQRWRFFXULQWKH2OG(QJOLVKPDWHULDODWDOO13 The results of the
 WORD ORDER AND LINEAR MODIFICATION IN ENGLISH 25

comparison of sentence beginnings in Old English and Modern English texts

presented in Tables 3 and 4 suggest certain differences in the communicative
loads of initial sentence elements. Although most of the elements (85/74) in both
texts perform thematic functions, the ratio of themes is slightly lower in Modern
English, where 9 initial elements perform rhematic functions. Both Old English
DQG0RGHUQ(QJOLVKWH[WVFRQWDLQLQLWLDOWUDQVLWLRQDOHOHPHQWVLQFRQMRLQHGFR
RUGLQDWHFODXVHVDIWHUDFRQMXQFWLRQ
Tables 5 and 6 indicate the frequency of different syntactic and FSP functions
RIVHQWHQFHHOHPHQWVLQQDOSRVLWLRQ,QWKH2OG(QJOLVKWH[WWKHPRVWIUHTXHQW
HOHPHQWLQQDOSRVLWLRQLVUKHPDWLFDGYHUELDOIROORZHGE\UKHPDWLFREMHFW
YHUEVXEMHFWDQGFRPSOHPHQW$VPDOOQXPEHURIQDOHOHPHQWV
DUHQRQUKHPDWLFXQLWVWKHPDWLFVXEMHFWVRFFXUULQJLQVHQWHQFHQDOSRVLWLRQGXH
to verb-second constraint and the use of the adverbial a in initial position (cf.
H[DPSOHWKHPDWLFDGYHUELDOVDQGREMHFWVH[SUHVVLQJVHWWLQJVDQGWUDQVLWLRQDO
verbal units14,QWKH0RGHUQ(QJOLVKWH[WWKHPRVWIUHTXHQWXQLWLQQDOSRVLWLRQ
LVUKHPDWLFDGYHUELDOIROORZHGE\UKHPDWLFREMHFWFRPSOHPHQW
VXEMHFWDQGYHUE0RVWRIWKHUKHPDWLFVXEMHFWVLQQDOSRVLWLRQDUHVSOLW
VXEMHFWV15RUVXEMHFWVLQFOHIWVHQWHQFHVVHQWHQFHVOLNHH[DPSOHDUHH[FHSWLRQ-
DO1RQUKHPDWLFHOHPHQWVRFFXUULQJLQQDOSRVLWLRQLQFOXGHWKHPDWLFDGYHUELDOV
DQGDVPDOOQXPEHURIWKHPDWLFREMHFWVDQGFRPSOHPHQWVDQGWUDQVLWLRQDOYHUEV
7KHFRPSDULVRQRIGDWDLQ7DEOHVDQGVXJJHVWVWKDWWKHWHQGHQF\IRUWKHQDO
placement of rhematic elements is very strong in both Old and Modern English.
The ratio of rhematic elements in Modern English, however, is slightly lower
than in Old English (80/86).
The comparison of Old English and Modern English chronicles suggests that
the syntactic change from Old English to Modern English was accompanied by a
UHGXFWLRQRIWKHH[LELOLW\ZLWKLQZRUGRUGHUSDWWHUQVDQLQFUHDVHLQWKHIUHTXHQ-
F\RILQLWLDOVXEMHFWVDWWKHH[SHQVHRILQLWLDODGYHUELDOVDQGREMHFWVDQLQFUHDVH
in the potential of the initial syntactic element to convey rhematic information
and to express the goal of the message of the whole sentences; and a slight reduc-
WLRQRIWKHIUHTXHQF\RIUKHPDWLFHOHPHQWVLQQDOSRVLWLRQ7KHFKDQJHRIWKH
hierarchy within the word-order principles during the development of the English
language, however, did not result in a VLJQLFDQW increase in sentences with sub-
MHFWLYHZRUGRUGHURZLQJWRWKHJUDGXDOGHYHORSPHQWRIVHQWHQFHVWUXFWXUHVOLNH
existential there-sentences and cleft sentences that satisfy both the grammatical
and the linearity principle.

Notes

1 These are supplemented by the rhythmical and the emphasis principle.

 ,QODQJXDJHVZLWKH[LEOHZRUGRUGHUVXFKHOHPHQWQDWXUDOO\RFFXUVLQQDOSRVLWLRQFIWKH
Czech sentence Svt slunce [Is shining the sun.]).
 3U LV LQ UHDOLW\ PRUH QDWXUDO WKDQ 4 ZKLFK RQO\ IXQFWLRQV LQ D UDWKHU FRQVWUXFWHG
context.
26 JANA CHAMONIKOLASOV

4 Manuscript D, Cotton Tiberius B iv (copied from older manuscripts around 1050): Introduction
and entries for years 47, 6268, 716, and 755.
5 Entries for years 480, 490, 500, 540, 550, and 563.
 7KLV SDSHU SUHVHQWV D VLPSOLHG IRUP RI )63 DQDO\VLV ,Q VHQWHQFHV ZLWK PRUH WKHPDWLF
elements Firbas (1992) distinguishes the following units: theme proper, theme proper oriented
theme, diatheme oriented theme, and diatheme. In this paper, the abbreviation ThPr denotes
themes proper and theme proper oriented themes; DTh denotes diathemes and diatheme
oriented themes.
 (OOLSWLFDOVXEMHFW
 :RUGRUGHULQ2(ZDVLQXHQFHGE\DZLGHUDQJHRIIDFWRUV)RULQVWDQFHVHQWHQFHVZLWK
VXEMHFWV H[SUHVVHG E\ D SHUVRQDO SURQRXQ UDUHO\ VKRZHG YHUEVHFRQG LQ VHQWHQFHV ZLWK
initial a, by contrast, verb-second was categorical (cf. Fischer & Wurff 2006: 184). Since
WKHIRFXVRIWKLVSDSHULVWKHFRPPXQLFDWLYHORDGRILQLWLDODQGQDOVHQWHQFHHOHPHQWVWKHVH
factors have not been dealt with. However, it should be noted that of the 30 occurrences of
the AVS pattern listed in Table 1, 25 contain the adverbial a preceding the verb.
9 Auxiliary verb.
 6SOLWVXEMHFW
 'XPP\JUDPPDWLFDOVXEMHFW
12 Shann (1964: 13) and Bean (1983: 67) indicate a lower percentage of the patterns VS. Due
to different categorization of sentence types, however, a precise comparison of the data is not
possible.
 +RZHYHUVRPHRIWKHUKHPDWLFVXEMHFWVLQWKH2OG(QJOLVKPDWHULDORFFXULQDSRVWLQLWLDO
position following the adverb a.
 0RVWWUDQVLWLRQDOYHUEVLQQDOSRVLWLRQDUHSUHFHGHGE\UKHPDWLFHOHPHQWVHJZV
heora heretoga Reoda gehaten.
 ([DPSOHRIDVSOLWVXEMHFW5HSRUWVDUHFLUFXODWLQJLQWKLVUHJLRQRIDGHFLVLYHYLFWRU\

Acknowledgement

This paper was written under the auspices of the &HQWUHIRU,QWHUGLVFLSOLQDU\5H-

VHDUFKLQWR$QFLHQW/DQJXDJHVDQG(DUO\6WDJHVRI0RGHUQ/DQJXDJHV (research
program MSM 0021622435) at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic.

Texts analyzed

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle MS D Cotton Tiberius B iv. (1926) Classen, E. and Harmer, F. E. (eds.)
Manchester: The University Press.
&KURQLFOHRI%ULWDLQDQG,UHODQG (1992). Heald, Henrietta (ed.) JL International Publishing.

References

%DHNNHQ%MUJ:RUG2UGHU3DWWHUQVLQ(DUO\0RGHUQ(QJOLVKZLWK6SHFLDO5HIHUHQFHWR

WKH3RVLWLRQRIWKH6XEMHFWDQGWKH)LQLWH9HUE. Oslo: Novus Press.
Bean, Marian C. (1983) 7KH'HYHORSPHQWRI:RUG2UGHU3DWWHUQVLQ2OG(QJOLVK. London: Croom
Helm.
 WORD ORDER AND LINEAR MODIFICATION IN ENGLISH 27

Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, and Edward Finegan (1999) Long-
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%ROLQJHU'ZLJKW//LQHDUPRGLFDWLRQ3XEOLFDWLRQVRIWKH0RGHUQ/DQJXDJH$VVRFLD-
WLRQRI$PHULFD 67, 11171144.
Breivik, Leif E. (1983) ([LVWHQWLDO7+(5(. Bergen: University of Bergen.
Breivik, Leif E. (1991) On the typological status of Old English. In Kastovsky, Dieter (ed.) His-
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Chamonikolasov, Jana (2005) Dynamic semantic scales in the theory of functional sentence per-
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LQ+RQRXURI(YD+DMLRYi. Praha: Univerzita Karlova, 6167.
Chamonikolasov, Jana (2007) ,QWRQDWLRQLQ(QJOLVKDQG&]HFK'LDORJXHV. Brno: Masaryk Uni-
versity.
Chamonikolasov, Jana (2009) Initial syntatic elements in Old English and Modern English sen-
WHQFHV,Q/RXGRYi.DWHLQD0DULHiNRYiHGV(DUO\(XURSHDQ/DQJXDJHVLQWKH(\HVRI
Modern Linguistics. Brno: Masaryk University, 99-110.
HUPiN-DQ$7\SRORJLFDOQRWHRQWKHFDWHJRU\RIJHQGHULQ2OG(QJOLVK,QHUPiN-DQ
and Ale Klgr (eds.) 7KH7RQJXHLV$Q(\H6WXGLHV3UHVHQWHGWR/LEXH'XNRYi. Praha: stav
DQJOLVWLN\DDPHULNDQLVWLN\))8.D.UXKPRGHUQtFKORORJ
Dukov, Libue (1985) The position of the rheme in English and Czech sentences as constituents
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/DQJXDJH DQG )XQFWLRQ 7R WKH 0HPRU\ RI -DQ )LUEDV 6WXGLHV LQ )XQFWLRQDO DQG 6WUXFWXUDO
Linguistics $PVWHUGDP3KLODGHOSKLD-RKQ%HQMDPLQV
Firbas, Jan (1957) Some thoughts on the function of word order in Old English and Modern Eng-
lish. 6ERUQtNSUDFt)LOR]RFNpIDNXOW\%UQQVNpXQLYHU]LW\ A5, 7298.
Firbas, Jan (1979) A functional view of ordo naturalis. Brno Studies in English 13, 2959.
Firbas, Jan (1989) Degrees of communicative dynamism and degrees of prosodic prominence.
Brno studies in English 18, 2166.
Firbas, Jan (1992) Functional sentence perspective in written and spoken communication. Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fischer, Olga and Wim van der Wurff (2006) Syntax. In: Hogg, Richard and David Denison (eds.)
$+LVWRU\RIWKH(QJOLVK/DQJXDJH. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 109198.
Haiman, John (1974) Targets and Syntactic Change. Janua Linguarum Series Minor 186. The
Hague and Paris: Mouton.
Jucker, Andreas H. (ed.) (1995) +LVWRULFDO3UDJPDWLFV3UDJPDWLF'HYHORSPHQWVLQWKH+LVWRU\RI
English$PVWHUGDPDQG3KLODGHOSKLD-RKQ%HQMDPLQV
Mathesius, Vilm (1975) $)XQFWLRQDO$QDO\VLVRI3UHVHQW'D\(QJOLVKRQD*HQHUDO/LQJXLVWLF
Basis. transl. Libue Dukov, ed. Josef Vachek. Prague: Academia.
Pintzuk, Susan, and Taylor, Ann (2006) The loss of OV order in the history of English. In: Kame-
nade, Ans van and Los Bettelou (eds.) 7KH+DQGERRNRIWKH+LVWRU\RI(QJOLVK. Maldon/Oxford/
Carlton: Blackwell Publishing, 249274.
4XLUN5DQGROSK6LGQH\*UHHQEDXP*HRIIUH\/HHFKDQG-DQ6YDUWYLNA Comprehensive
*UDPPDURIWKH(QJOLVK/DQJXDJH. New York: Longman.
Sauer, Hans (1995) Das gegenwrtige Englisch und seine historischen Hintergrnde [Present-Day
English and its Historical Background]. In: Ahrens, R. et al. (eds.) Handbuch English als Fremd-
sprache. Berlin: Erich Schmidt, 1723.
Seoane, Elena (2006) Information structure and word order change: The passive as an informa-
tion-rearranging strategy in the history of English. In: Kamenade, Ans van and Los Bettelou
(eds.) 7KH+DQGERRNRIWKH+LVWRU\RI(QJOLVK. Maldon/Oxford/Carlton: Blackwell Publishing,
360391.
28 JANA CHAMONIKOLASOV

Shannon, Ann (1964) $GHVFULSWLYHV\QWD[RIWKH3DUNHUPDQXVFULSWRIWKH$QJOR6D[RQFKURQLFOH

IURPWR. The Hague: Mouton.
Svoboda, Ale (1981) Diatheme. Brno: Masaryk University.
Svoboda, Ale (1989) .DSLWRO\]IXQNQtV\QWD[H [Topics in functional syntax]. Prague: Sttn peda-
gogick nakladatelstv.
Vachek, Josef (1994) $)XQFWLRQDO6\QWD[RI0RGHUQ(QJOLVK. Brno: Masaryk University.

JANA CHAMONIKOLASOV is an associate professor in the Department of English and American Stud-
ies at the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, where she teaches classes
in functional syntax and the history of the English language. She has published a monograph ,Q-
tonation in English and Czech dialoguesDQGSDSHUVLQYDULRXVOLQJXLVWLFMRXUQDOV,QKHUUHVHDUFK
she focuses on the interpretation of spoken language from the viewpoint of the theory of functional
sentence perspective and intonation.

Address: doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasov, Ph.D., Department of English and American Stud-
ies, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Arna Novka 1, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic. [email:
chamonik@phil.muni.cz]
 Brno Studies in English
Volume 35, No. 2, 2009
ISSN 0524-6881

LIBUE DUKOV

NOUN MODIFICATION IN FICTION AND ACADEMIC PROSE

Abstract
7KHDUWLFOHH[DPLQHVQRXQPRGLFDWLRQLQFWLRQDQGDFDGHPLFSURVHZLWKDYLHZ
WRDVFHUWDLQLQJIHDWXUHVFODVVLDEOHDVVW\OHPDUNHUV1RXQSKUDVHVLQWZRWH[W
VDPSOHVZHUHFODVVLHGDFFRUGLQJWRZKHWKHURUQRWWKH\FRQWDLQHGPRGLFD-
WLRQDQGLQWKHFDVHRIPRGLHGQRXQSKUDVHVZLWKUHVSHFWWRWKHW\SHVUHDOL]D-
WLRQIRUPVDQGGLVWULEXWLRQRIWKHPRGLHUV1RXQSKUDVHVGHYRLGRIPRGLHUV
GLVSOD\HGDVLJQLFDQWGLVWLQFWLRQLQWKHUHODWLYHO\KLJKUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRISURSHU
QDPHVLQFWLRQDVFRPSDUHGZLWKWKHLUPDUJLQDORFFXUUHQFHLQDFDGHPLFSURVH
0RGLHGQRXQSKUDVHVUHYHDOHGTXDOLWDWLYHUDWKHUWKDQTXDQWLWDWLYHGLIIHUHQFHV
HVSHFLDOO\ LQ WKH VHPDQWLFV RI SUHPRGLHUV ,Q DFDGHPLF SURVH SUHPRGLI\LQJ
DGMHFWLYHVDQGingSDUWLFLSOHVZHUHPRVWO\FODVVLHUVFRQVWLWXWLQJFRPSRQHQWV
RI ]RRORJLFDO WHUPV ZKLOH SUHPRGLHUV LQ FWLRQ ZHUH ODUJHO\ GHVFULSWLYH RU
evaluative. The differences in the quantitative results compared with the data
in/RQJPDQ*UDPPDURI6SRNHQDQG:ULWWHQ(QJOLVKare to be ascribed to the
OLPLWHGDPRXQWRIWKHUHVHDUFKPDWHULDODQGWKHVSHFLFIHDWXUHVRIWKHHPSOR\HG
text sample within the respective text genre.*

Key words
1RXQ PRGLFDWLRQ UHDOL]DWLRQ IRUPV VHPDQWLFV VW\OH PDUNHUV FWLRQ DFD-
demic prose

1. Introduction

The following discussion is concerned with the occurrence, structural variety and
VHPDQWLFVRIPRGLFDWLRQRIFRPSOH[QRXQSKUDVHVGHQHGDV13VFRQWDLQLQJ
LQDGGLWLRQWRDGHWHUPLQHUDQGDKHDGQRXQRQHRUPRUHPRGLHUV7ZRVRUWVRI
WH[WVZHUHH[DPLQHGIURPWKHVHDVSHFWVDVDPSOHRIFWLRQ,VKLJXURDQGDVDP-
30 LIBUE DUKOV

ple of academic prose (Morris), see Sources. They are attached in the Appendix.1
The study attempts to confront the results of an analysis of the two texts with
WKHGHVFULSWLRQRIQRXQSKUDVHPRGLFDWLRQLQGLIIHUHQWWH[WVRUWVDVSUHVHQWHGLQ
representative grammars, in pursuit of uncovering some less investigated, poten-
tially novel, albeit minor points, and thus to contribute to the overall description.
$GPLWWHGO\ WKH QGLQJV RI WKH DQDO\VLV DUH OLPLWHG ERWK E\ WKH QXPEHU RI WKH
samples and the number of excerpts. Moreover, authors styles vary, especially
LQFWLRQDQGVRGRHVWKHVW\OHLQDFDGHPLFSURVHLQSDUWLFXODUEHWZHHQGLIIHUHQW
HOGVRIVWXG\1HYHUWKHOHVVZKHUHWKHGLIIHUHQFHVDUHFRQVLVWHQWZLWKWKHFKDUDF-
ter of the respective text sort, they can be afforded some stylistic relevance.
The overall material of the study comprises 510 noun phrases all but equally
GUDZQIURPWKHUXQQLQJWH[WRIWKHFWLRQVDPSOHLQVWDQFHVDQGUXQQLQJWH[W
of academic prose (254 instances). All noun phrases, i.e. both with and without
PRGLFDWLRQ ZHUH FRXQWHG H[FHSW QRXQV LQ FRPSOH[ SUHSRVLWLRQV RI WKH W\SH
preposition + noun + preposition (e.g. RQEHKDOIRI, IRUWKHVDNHRI, etc.) and nouns
LQ[HGSKUDVHVOLNHRIFRXUVH, IRUH[DPSOH, etc.). Since the point under study
was the structure of the noun phrase, nouns in the possessive case are included
DPRQJPRGLHUVDOWKRXJKWKH\PRVWO\RSHUDWHDVGHWHUPLQHUVFI4XLUNHWDO
1985: 326). Accordingly, the concept of determiner is here limited to the articles
DQGWKHGHWHUPLQDWLYHIXQFWLRQRISURQRXQVDQGTXDQWLHUV
The material includes some noun phrases with non-substantival heads, mostly
LQGHQLWHSURQRXQVQXPHUDOVDQGGHPRQVWUDWLYHSURQRXQVIXQFWLRQLQJDVVXEVWDQWLYDO
proforms. These instances, generally regarded as noun phrases2, were registered
ZKHUHWKHKHDGZDVPRGLHGDQGQRWHGDV13VZLWKQRQVXEVWDQWLYDOKHDGV$V
UHJDUGVQRQVXEVWDQWLYDO13VZLWKRXWPRGLFDWLRQWKH\ODFNHLWKHUGHQLQJIHDWXUH
of the type of NP here studied. Containing neither a determiner, nor a noun in their
structure, they were left out of account, i.e. they are not included in the group of
QRQPRGLHG13V7KRXJKWKLVVWUXFWXUHLVRILQWHUHVWIURPWKHYLHZSRLQWRIZKLFK
QRQVXEVWDQWLYDOKHDGVDOORZPRGLFDWLRQDQGZKDWPRGLFDWLRQW\SHVWKLVDVSHFW
was not followed because in the examined samples the structure is marginal.3 Noun
phrases with non-substantival heads are illustrated in (1).

 DQRWKLQJREMHFWLRQDEOH [Ishiguro 89]

 ERQHRIP\SXSLOVZKRUVWEURXJKWLWWRP\DWWHQWLRQ>,VKLJXUR@
c. those who had not wished the house to pass out of the family [Ishiguro
115ib]

In the analysis a problem sometimes arose as to how to class a prepositional phrase

IROORZLQJDQREMHFWRUWKHVXEMHFWLQH[LVWHQWLDOFRQVWUXFWLRQ6RPHSUHSRVLWLRQDO
SKUDVHVLQWKLVSRVLWLRQSUHVHQWHGQHLWKHUDFOHDUFXWLQVWDQFHRISRVWPRGLFDWLRQ
nor of an adverbial. In these cases the adopted solution is only one of the ways of
dealing with the problem and other solutions may be preferred. Conveniently for
WKHTXDQWLWDWLYHGDWDWKHVHLQVWDQFHVDUHDJDLQVWDWLVWLFDOO\LQVLJQLFDQW&RPSDUH
(2):
 NOUN MODIFICATION IN FICTION AND ACADEMIC PROSE 31

(2) There is a label [1] on a cage [2] at a certain zoo [2b] (Morris)

,VWKHSUHSRVLWLRQDOSKUDVH>@WREHUHJDUGHGDVDPRGLHURIa label (There is

a label located on a cage) or as an adverbial of place (on a cage there is a la-
bel); and similarly does at a certain zoo modify the cage (a cage which is at
a zoo) or are both prepositional phrases separate locative adverbials (At a zoo,
RQDFDJHWKHUHLVDODEHO"2UQDOO\GRWKH\ERWKVXFFHVVLYHO\SRVWPRGLI\
the head noun (a label stuck on a cage located at a zoo)? As shown by the mark-
ing in square brackets, the solution adopted here is classing the two prepositional
SKUDVHVDVRQHORFDWLYHDGYHUELDOLQZKLFKWKHVHFRQGVSHFLHVWKHUVW7KHWHVWV
applied here were alternative word order On a cage at a certain zoo there is label
and the question test (where is there a label?). As pointed out above and shown
by the other alternative forms, instances of this kind are mostly indeterminate and
may be treated differently.

2. Realization forms of noun phrases

1RXQ SKUDVHV LQ WKH WZR VDPSOHV XQGHU VWXG\ ZHUH UVW JURXSHG DFFRUGLQJ WR
ZKHWKHURUQRWWKHKHDGQRXQZDVPRGLHG7KHUHVSHFWLYHJXUHVDUHJLYHQLQ
Tables 1 and 2.

Table 1. Realization forms of noun phrases: Ishiguro

1RXQPRGLFDWLRQ
1RXQVZLWKRXWPRGLHUV 91 (100%) 35.5%
Common nouns 81 (89%)
Proper names 10 (11%)
1RXQVZLWKPRGLHUV 165 64.5%
Total 256 100%

Table 2. Realization forms of noun phrases: Morris

1RXQPRGLFDWLRQ
1RXQVZLWKRXWPRGLHUV 78 (100%) 30.7%
Common nouns 77
Proper names 1
1RXQVZLWKPRGLHUV 176 69.3%
Total 254 100%

7KHJXUHVLQ7DEOHVDQGVKRZPRUHRUOHVVH[SHFWDEOHUHVXOWVYL]WKDWWKH
QRXQSKUDVHLQDFDGHPLFSURVHLVPRUHFRPSOH[WKDQWKDWLQFWLRQLQWKHIRUPHU
32 LIBUE DUKOV

QRXQSKUDVHVZLWKRXWPRGLFDWLRQDUHE\PRUHIUHTXHQW+RZHYHUZKHQZH
take into account the proportion of the two groups of nouns subsumed under non-
PRGLHGQRXQVWKLVGLVWLQFWLRQDSSHDUVLQDGLIIHUHQWOLJKW:KLOHQRQPRGLHG
noun phrases in academic prose are almost exclusively accounted for by NPs with
determiners, there being only one proper noun (a geographical name, for that matter,
cf. $IULFD0RUULV>@LQFWLRQWKHSURSRUWLRQRISURSHUQDPHVLVPXFKKLJKHU
LQVWDQFHV(YLGHQWO\WKLVUHHFWVWKHQDWXUHRIFWLRQDOOSURSHUQRXQVDUH
here personal names referring to the characters of the story being told. If proper
QRXQVDUHVXEWUDFWHGWKHUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRIQRQPRGLHG13VLQWKHWZRVDPSOHV
differs only by 1% (77 instances out of 254 [30.3%] in academic prose, and 81 out
RI>@LQFWLRQ7KHUHODWLYHO\KLJKUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRISURSHUQDPHVLQ
FWLRQPD\SOD\DUROHLQWKHUHODWLYHO\ORZHUUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRIPRGLHG13VLQ
WKLVVDPSOHLQVRIDUDVPRGLFDWLRQRISURSHUQDPHVLVLQJHQHUDOJUHDWO\UHVWULFWHG
DQGKHQFHUDUHWKHH[DPLQHGVDPSOHFRQWDLQVQRLQVWDQFHRIDPRGLHGSURSHU
name). Thus the only distinction between the two texts sorts emerging from the
JURXSRIQRQPRGLHG13VLVWKHUHODWLYHO\KLJKUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRISURSHUQDPHV
DVDIHDWXUHRIFWLRQ7KLVLVGRXEWOHVVRQHRIFWLRQVJHQHUDOIHDWXUHVPRUHRU
less independent of the style of the author and the role of the narrator.

5HDOL]DWLRQIRUPVRIPRGLHUV

The second point of potential relevance for the present discussion concerns the
UHDOL]DWLRQIRUPVRIWKHPRGLHUV7KHIRUPVIRXQGLQWKHWZRVDPSOHVDUHSUH-
sented in Tables 3 and 4.

Table 3.5HDOL]DWLRQIRUPVRIPRGLHUV,VKLJXUR

7\SHVRIPRGLFDWLRQ Abs. %
$GMHFWLYH 71 36.4
Prepositional phrase 61 31.3
Relative clause 18 9.2
Converted noun 12 6.2
Possessive case 9 4.6
ed-participle 9 4.6
Gerund 5 2.6
ing-participle 4 2.1
,QQLWLYH 2 1.0
Apposition 3 1.5
Adverb 1 0.5
Total 195 100.0
 NOUN MODIFICATION IN FICTION AND ACADEMIC PROSE 33

Table 4.5HDOL]DWLRQIRUPVRIPRGLHUV0RUULV

7\SHVRIPRGLFDWLRQ Abs. %
$GMHFWLYH 92 45.3
Prepositional phrase 55 27.1
ing-participle 12 5.9
Relative clause 12 5.9
Converted noun 9 4.4
Apposition 9 4.4
Gerund 6 2.9
Possessive case 3 1.6
ed-participle 2 1.0
Adverb 2 1.0
,QQLWLYH 1 0.5
Total 203 100.0

The differences in the totals between Tables 1 and 2 on the one hand, and Tables 3
DQGRQWKHRWKHUDUHGXHWRLQVWDQFHVRIPXOWLSOHPRGLFDWLRQLHQRXQSKUDVHV
ZLWKRQHKHDGQRXQPRGLHGE\PRUHWKDQRQHPRGLHUQRQHRIZKLFKFRQWDLQV
an NP in its structure, cf. the examples listed under (3):

 DWKHQHFHGDUJDWHZD\>,VKLJXUR@
  DGMHFWLYHFRQYHUWHGQRXQ
b. the special food of the district [Morris 43, 43b]
  DGMHFWLYHSUHSRVWLRQDOSKUDVH
c. The great advantage we have when studying [Morris 64]
  DGMHFWLYHUHODWLYHFODXVH

1RXQPRGLFDWLRQE\DGMHFWLYHVDQGSUHSRVLWLRQDOSKUDVHV

7KHWZRUHDOL]DWLRQIRUPVUDQNLQJKLJKHVWLQERWKVDPSOHVDUHWKHDGMHFWLYHDQG
the prepositional phrase, 36.4% and 31.3% in Ishiguro, and 45.3% and 27.1 in
Morris, respectively. These results are in agreement with the data in Biber et
DO&RPPRQDGMHFWLYHVLHQRQSDUWLFLSLDODGMHFWLYHVDUHWKHPRVWFRPPRQ
FDWHJRU\RISUHPRGLHUVLQDOOUHJLVWHUV3UHSRVLWLRQDOSKUDVHVDUH
E\IDUWKHPRVWFRPPRQW\SHRISRVWPRGLFDWLRQLQDOOUHJLVWHUV
In the examined texts prepositional phrases were more frequently registered in
FWLRQWKDQLQDFDGHPLFSURVH+HUH%LEHUHWDOGRQRWRIIHUFRPSDUDEOHGDWD
relative frequencies of occurrence being presented only for the different forms of
SUHDQGSRVWPRGLHUVVHSDUDWHO\6LPLODUO\WKHFRQVLGHUDEOHGLIIHUHQFHEHWZHHQ
WKHUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRIDGMHFWLYHVDQGSUHSRVLWLRQDOSKUDVHVLQFWLRQDQGDFDGHPLF
prose (5% and 18%, respectively) cannot be related to comparable data in Biber
HWDO$VUHJDUGVWKHQRWLFHDEO\KLJKHUUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRIDGMHFWLYHVLQDFDGHPLF
34 LIBUE DUKOV

SURVHWKDQLQFWLRQSDUWO\FRPSDUDEOHGDWDFDQEHIRXQGLQ)LJXUH%LEHUHW
al. 1999: 589), but the difference between the two registers in this respect does
not appear to be so prominent.

,QWKHDFDGHPLFVDPSOHWKHKLJKHUUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRIDGMHFWLYDOSUHPRGLFD-
tion may be partly accounted for by the recurrence of collocates of the descriptive
DGMHFWLYHnew + IRUP(3 instances), species (3 instances), squirrel(s) (2 instances),
typeRQHLQVWDQFHLQUHIHUHQFHWRWKHK\SHUWKHPHRIWKHSDVVDJH7KHDGMHFWLYH
new has altogether 11 occurrences in the text, its use with other head nouns being
also connected with the novelty feature of the hypertheme, cf. (4) a. and b.

(4) a. new form [Morris 22, 28, 51], new species [46, 55, 102], new squirrel(s)
[35, 73], new type [45b]
b. new trend [23] , new medium [138]

$QRWKHUIDFWRUFRQWULEXWLQJWRDGMHFWLYDOPRGLFDWLRQLQWKHDFDGHPLFVDPSOHLV
the realization form of some zoological terms, which includes, in addition to the
KHDGQRXQDFODVVLFDWRU\DGMHFWLYHGHQRWLQJDVXEFODVVRIWKHVSHFLHVGHVLJQDWHG
E\WKHKHDGQRXQ7KHDGMHFWLYHSHUIRUPVWKLVIXQFWLRQDORQHRULQFRQMXQFWLRQ
ZLWKRWKHUSUHPRGLHUVFIWKHH[DPSOHVOLVWHGXQGHU

(5) a. black-footed squirrel [Morris 9, 65], the African black-footed squirrel

[60]
b. aquatic animals [146], human animal [67], human being [71], tailless great
apes [83b], reptilian ancestors [119], the naked mole rat [144b]

:KLOH WKH UHFXUUHQFH RI WKH DGMHFWLYH new is connected with the treatment of
a new hypertheme and is derivable from the text build-up, the two-word structure
of zoological terms is a noticeable terminological feature in general and may be
assigned stylistic relevance.

7KHUHODWLYHO\KLJKHUUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRIDGMHFWLYHVLQDFDGHPLFSURVHWKDQLQ
FWLRQLVDOVRDSSDUHQWLQLQVWDQFHVRIPXOWLSOHSUHPRGLFDWLRQWKHSUHYDOHQFH
of this type in the former being commensurate with the overall predominance of
DGMHFWLYDOSUHPRGLFDWLRQLQWKLVVDPSOHYVLQVWDQFHV,QWKHH[DPLQHG
VDPSOHV DSDUW IURP FRRUGLQDWHG DGMHFWLYHV PXOWLSOH SUHPRGLFDWLRQ LQFOXGHV
converted nouns, participles and the possessive case, cf. (6) a. and b.

(6) a. this old and hidebound family [Ishiguro 91], certain interesting rumours
[Ishiguro 107]; various other anatomical features [Morris 75d], their pro-
tective furry covering [Morris 117]
 EWKH FLW\V PRVW UHVSHFWHG DQG LQXHQWLDO PHQ >,VKLJXUR @ D FRQVWDQW
high body temperature [Morris 121b], a thick hairy, insulating coat [Mor-
ris 127b].
 NOUN MODIFICATION IN FICTION AND ACADEMIC PROSE 35

7KHFWLRQVDPSOHFRQWDLQHGWZRLQVWDQFHVRIDFRRUGLQDWLRQW\SHFKDUDFWHULVWLF
RI LQIRUPDO VSHHFK YL] PRGLFDWLRQ ZLWK or so to express approximation (cf.
4XLUNHWDO&RPSDUH

(7) for a year or so [Ishiguro 44]

7ZRLQVWDQFHVRIPXOWLSOHPRGLFDWLRQE\DGMHFWLYHVGHVHUYHWREHPHQWLRQHGIRU
GLVSOD\LQJVSHFLDOIHDWXUHV)LFWLRQSURYLGHVDQH[DPSOHRIGLVFRQWLQXRXVDGMHF-
WLYDOSUHPRGLFDWLRQGXHWRWKHLQVHUWLRQRIDFRPPHQWFODXVHLQWKHIXQFWLRQRI
SDUHQWKHWLFDOGLVMXQFWFI4XLUNHWDODFRQJXUDWLRQLQGLFDWLYH
RIWKHVW\OHRIFWLRQ

(8) a most curious some may say foolish procedure [Ishiguro 28]

7KHRWKHULQVWDQFHRIGLVFRQWLQXRXVPRGLFDWLRQIRXQGLQWKHDFDGHPLFVDPSOH
UHSUHVHQWVDFDVHRIFRPSOH[PRGLFDWLRQVWUXFWXUHFRQVWLWXWHGE\PXOWLSOHDG-
MHFWLYDOFRRUGLQDWLRQDQGPXOWLSOHDSSRVLWLRQ7KHGLVFRQWLQXLW\LQYROYHVWZRRI
WKUHHFRRUGLQDWHGDGMHFWLYHVDQGWKHHQWLUHPXOWLSOHDSSRVLWLRQFI

(9) a new species [Morris 46] would have evolved, separate and discrete,
DXQLTXHIRUP>E@RIOLIH>E@DWKUHHKXQGUHGDQGVL[W\VHYHQWKNLQG
>F@RIVTXLUUHO>F@

$VUHJDUGVRWKHULQVWDQFHVRISRVWSRVHGDGMHFWLYHVDSDUWIURPREOLJDWRU\SRVW-
SRVLWLRQLQWKHFDVHRILQGHQLWHSURQRXQKHDGVFIH[DDOWRJHWKHUWKUHH
LQVWDQFHVDQGWZRRFFXUUHQFHVRIWKHDGMHFWLYHworth (cf. (20) c.), the texts under
study did not provide any examples.

3.1.3 Potential stylistic relevance was further sought in the semantics of the
PRGLI\LQJDGMHFWLYHV)ROORZLQJWKHVHPDQWLFFODVVLFDWLRQLQ%LEHUHWDO
WKHDGMHFWLYHVZHUHUVWFODVVHGDVGHVFULSWRUVRUFODVVLHUVWKHGLV-
tinction between the two groups consisting in the delimiting or restricting func-
WLRQZLWKUHVSHFWWRDQRXQVUHIHUHQWLQWKHFDVHRIFODVVLHUVZKLOHGHVFULSWRUV
prototypically denote such features as colour, size, weight, age, etc. Needless to
VD\VHPDQWLFFODVVLFDWLRQZKDWHYHUPRGHOPD\EHXVHGLVKDUGO\HYHUXQLYR-
cal. Hence the quantitative data are of the more-or-less kind rather than repre-
VHQWLQJH[DFWJXUHV,QFRQVHTXHQFHRIWKHRYHUDOOODUJHUQXPEHURIDGMHFWLYDO
PRGLHUVLQWKHDFDGHPLFVDPSOHDOOVHPDQWLFJURXSVQXPEHUPRUHH[DPSOHVLQ
this text, the only measure of comparison thus being the relative representation of
the different semantic groups within each sample.
$FFRUGLQJ WR WKH FRUSXV QGLQJV LQ %LEHU HW DO   HYDOXDWLYH
GHVFULSWRUVDUHHTXDOO\UHSUHVHQWHGLQERWKFWLRQDQGDFDGHPLFSURVHZKHUHDV
WKHJUHDWHVWGLIIHUHQFHLVIRXQGLQWKHFDVHRIUHODWLRQDOFODVVLHUVZKHUHWKHUDWLR
RIWKHLUUHSUHVHQWDWLRQLQFWLRQDQGDFDGHPLFSURVHLVFI7DEOHS
36 LIBUE DUKOV

,QWKHWH[WVXQGHUVWXG\QHDUO\DKDOIRIWKHDGMHFWLYHVIRXQGLQFWLRQDUHHYDOX-
DWLYHDERXWGHVFULSWLYHDQGFODVVLFDWRU\,QDFDGHPLFSURVHWKLVVFDOH
LVUHYHUVHGDERXWDUHFODVVLHUVGHVFULSWRUVDQGHYDOXDWRUV7KH
VHPDQWLFFKDUDFWHULVWLFVRIDGMHFWLYDOPRGLFDWLRQLQWKHWZRVDPSOHVWKXVDSSHDU
WRFRQVLVWLQWKHSUHYDOHQFHRIHYDOXDWRUVLQFWLRQLQFRQWUDVWWRWKHSUHGRPLQDQFH
RIFODVVLHUVLQDFDGHPLFSURVH7KLVKDVDOUHDG\EHHQVXJJHVWHGE\WKHDGGXFHG
H[DPSOHVRIDGMHFWLYDOPRGLFDWLRQ$TXDOLWDWLYHGLVWLQFWLRQPRUHRYHUHPHUJHV
ZKHQWKHHYDOXDWRUVLQWKHWZRWH[WVDPSOHVDUHFRPSDUHG:KLOHFWLRQGLVSOD\V
emotive or attitudinal evaluation, the evaluators in the academic sample are intel-
lectual. Compare examples (3) a., (6), (8) and (10) a. with (3) c. and (10) b.

DWKHURRIZLWKLWVHOHJDQWWLOHV>,VKLJXURF@WZRKDXJKW\JUH\KDLUHG
ladies [54c], an eccentric procedure [88], some bitter arguments [110]
b. a primate of a very odd kind [Morris 76c], of vital importance [126], sim-
ple observation [104ib], a slight advantage [29]

Notably, the evaluator simple occurs three times (Morris 104, 59). Evaluating
DGMHFWLYHVFRPSDUDEOHZLWKWKRVHIRXQGLQWKHFWLRQVDPSOHDUHIHZLQDGGLWLRQ
to odd in (10) b., a clear example is drastic (this drastic step [136]).

3UHPRGLFDWLRQRIQRXQVE\FRQYHUWHGQRXQVDQGSRVVHVVLYHFDVH

2WKHUUHDOL]DWLRQIRUPVRISUHPRGLHUVIRXQGLQWKHWH[WVXQGHUVWXG\FRPSULVHG
converted nouns and the possessive case (see Tables 3 and 4). The representation
of these forms in the two samples (converted noun and possessive case in Ishig-
uro 12 and 9 instances, respectively; in Morris 9 and 3 instances, respectively)
suggests that only the possessive case may have some stylistic relevance.

3.2.1 According to Biber et al. (1999: 589) converted nouns account for c. 30%
RIDOOSUHPRGLHUVLQDFDGHPLFSURVHDQGMXGJLQJIURPJXUHLELGWKH\DUH
DSSUR[LPDWHO\WZLFHDVFRPPRQLQWKLVWH[WVRUWDVLQFWLRQ1HLWKHURIWKHVH
FRUSXVQGLQJVFRUUHVSRQGVZLWKWKHGDWDJLYHQLQ7DEOHVDQG,QWKHWRWDO
RIDOOSUHPRGLHUVFRQYHUWHGQRXQVDFFRXQWIRUVRPHLQDFDGHPLFSURVHDQG
IRURYHULQFWLRQ$VLQVHYHUDOSUHYLRXVSRLQWVWKHFWLRQVDPSOHKHUHDS-
pears to be rather atypical. Of the many semantic relations obtaining in the noun
+ noun sequences (cf. Biber et al. 1999: 590591), most premodifying nouns in
the academic sample express the genitive relation (RI-relation), cf. (11) a. Other
relations are illustrated in (11) b.

D VTXLUUHO IDPLO\ >0RUULV E@ SULPDWH VSHFLHV >@ VNLQ VXUIDFH >@
body temperature [121ib], body processes [122b]
 EKHDWORVVREMHFWUHODWLRQVKLS>@KDLUFRYHULQJVRXUFHFRPSRVLWLRQ
[145])
 NOUN MODIFICATION IN FICTION AND ACADEMIC PROSE 37

7KHVHPDQWLFUHODWLRQVH[SUHVVHGE\QRXQPRGLHUVLQFWLRQDUHPRUHYDULHG
VRPHRIWKHPWWLQJLQQRQHRIWKHW\SHVOLVWHGLQ%LEHUHWDO

 JDUGHQ ZDOO ORFDWLRQ >E@ PDUULDJH QHJRWLDWLRQ FRQWHQW >@

gingko trees (kind [4b], cedar gateway (material [21], family mem-
EHUVSDUWLWLYH>@LQNEUXVKSXUSRVH>LG@DUWHQWKXVLDVWREMHFW
[106b])

:KHWKHUYDULHW\RIVHPDQWLFUHODWLRQVLQWKLVIRUPRISUHPRGLFDWLRQKDVVW\OLVWLF
relevance remains to be ascertained on the basis of larger and more varied text
samples.

3.2.2 The possessive case appears to be more suggestive in this respect. Although
WKHDEVROXWHJXUHVGRQRWH[FHHGWHQWKHUHLVDPDUNHGGLIIHUHQFHLQWKHUHSUH-
VHQWDWLRQRIWKLVIRUPLQIDYRXURIFWLRQQLQHYVWKUHHRFFXUUHQFHVVHH7DEOHV
3 and 4). This is expectedly connected with the nature of the head nouns in the
WZRH[DPLQHGWH[WVRUWV2YHUDKDOIRIWKHLQVWDQFHVGUDZQIURPFWLRQUHIHUWR
the characters of the story, the remaining forms being comparable both in number
and semantic type with the head nouns of the genitives found in academic prose,
cf. (13) a. b. and c.

(13) a. our childrens marriage prospects [Ishiguro 39b], Akira Sugimuras house
>E@WKHLUODWHIDWKHUVKRXVH>F@WKH\RXQJHUVLVWHUVZRUGV>E@
the Sugimuras high-handedness [148b]
 EKLV SDWLHQWV GLVHDVH >0RUULV E@ RQHV PRUDO FRQGXFW >,VKLJXUR
LE@RQHVSXUVH>,VKLJXURLI@JHQHULFSHUVRQDOKHDG
 FWKHDQLPDOVKLVWRU\>0RUULVE@WKHVXQVUD\V>0RUULVE@WKHFLW\V
PRVWUHVSHFWHGDQGLQXHQWLDOPHQ>,VKLJXURE@KDOIWKHSURSHUW\VWUXH
YDOXH>,VKLJXURE@JHQLWLYHRIQRQSHUVRQDOQRXQV

$VFDQEHVHHQWKHDGGXFHGLQVWDQFHVRISRVVHVVLYHJHQLWLYHODUJHO\UHHFWWKH
UHODWLYHO\KLJKUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRISURSHUQDPHVLQFWLRQQRWHGLQDVLWVVSHFLDO
feature, thus contributing to this features stylistic relevance.

0RGLFDWLRQIRUPVRFFXUULQJLQERWKSUHDQGSRVWPRGLFDWLRQ

2IWKHUHDOL]DWLRQIRUPVWKDWRFFXUERWKDVSUHDQGSRVWPRGLHUVWKHWH[WVXQGHU
study contain ing- and ed-participles and the gerund. Biber et al. (1999) offer
relative frequencies of occurrence only for each of these forms with respect to
WKH RWKHU SUH DQG SRVWPRGLHUV EXW QRW IRU HDFK IRUP LQ UHJDUG WR LWV RFFXU-
UHQFHLQSUHDQGSRVWPRGLFDWLRQ:KLOHSRVWPRGLI\LQJSDVWSDUWLFLSOHVDUHGH-
scribed as more common in academic prose than in any other register (Biber et al.
RFFXUUHQFHLQSUHPRGLFDWLRQLVQRWHGDVVRPHZKDWPRUHFRPPRQ
LQDFDGHPLFSURVHWKDQLQWKHRWKHUUHJLVWHUV%LEHU:LWKLQFWLRQ
38 LIBUE DUKOV

the representation of ing- and ed-participle appears to be approximately equal,

whereas in academic prose ed-participles predominate (cf. Biber et al 1999: 606,
)LJ7KHJXUHVIRUWKHSUHPRGLI\LQJing-participle presumably also in-
clude the gerund, since this category is not recognized. The occurrence of post-
modifyng gerunds can be only guessed at from the data for RI + ing in comparison
to toLQQLWLYHFRQWHQWthat- and interrogative wh-clauses (ibid. 647, Fig 8.23),
where RI + ing is shown to be three-to-four times more frequent in academic
SURVHWKDQLQFWLRQ

3.3.1 In the texts under study the ing-participle has 12 occurrences in academic
SURVHDQGLQFWLRQ,QWKHIRUPHULWUDQNVWKLUGRQWKHIUHTXHQF\VFDOHIROORZLQJ
WKHWZRPRVWIUHTXHQWPRGLIHUVZKHUHDVLQFWLRQZLWKIRXURFFXUUHQFHVLWIDOOVLQ
the group of the four least frequent forms. Out of the 12 ing-participles in Morris,
VHYHQRFFXULQSUHPRGLFDWLRQDQGDOORSHUDWHKHUHDVFODVVLHUVFI

(14) living species [Morris 15], independent breeding population [19],

VWDUWLQJ SRLQW >@ OLYLQJ PDPPDOV >E@ \LQJ PDPPDOV >@
burrowing mammals [143]

7KHFWLRQVDPSOHVGLVSOD\VWZRingSDUWLFLSOHVLQSUHPRGLFDWLRQERWKRIZKLFK
convey evaluative, qualifying meaning, cf. (15):

(15) a commanding position on the hill [Ishiguro 5, 5b], the imposing air of
the house [10, 10b]

The semantic distinction appears to be connected only with the premodifying

function of the ingSDUWLFLSOH,QSRVWPRGLFDWLRQQRVLPLODUGLVWLQFWLRQKDVEHHQ
noted, cf. (16) a. and b.:

DVSHFLDOPRGLFDWLRQVPDNLQJLQWHUEUHHGLQJZLWKRWKHUNLQGVXQOLNHO\
[Morris 41ib]; a starting point, telling us [57i]
b. the steep path leading [2i] up from the little wooden bridge [Ishiguro 2i];
LWVVW\OLVKO\FDUYHGULGJHSROH>F@SRLQWLQJ>LL@RXWRYHUWKHYLHZ

As shown in (14), most premodifying ing-participles constitute components of

]RRORJLFDOWHUPVWKXVSHUIRUPLQJWKHVDPHIXQFWLRQDVPDQ\FODVVLI\LQJDGMHF-
tives (see 3.1) and may be regarded as style markers.

1RXQPRGLFDWLRQE\WKHed-participle in the two texts presents a reversed

picture, at least with respect to relative frequency of occurrence: there is consid-
erable prevalence of edSDUWLFLSOHVLQFWLRQYL]QLQHRFFXUUHQFHVDJDLQVWWZR
in academic prose. This result is presumably due to the limited length of the
samples, or else the relatively high representation of the ed-participle may be
DVSHFLFIHDWXUHRIWKHVW\OHRIWKHQRYHOVDXWKRU0RVWed-participles here oc-
 NOUN MODIFICATION IN FICTION AND ACADEMIC PROSE 39

FXULQSRVWPRGLFDWLRQDJDLQZLWKRXWHYDOXDWLYHFRORXULQJRIPHDQLQJFI
a. and b.

(17) a. a simple descriptive name based [Morris 104i] on a simple observation

b. the little wooden bridge still referred to [Ishiguro 2ibii] around here as the
Bridge of Hesitation

7KHFWLRQVDPSOHFRQWDLQVWKUHHSUHPRGLI\LQJed-participles, one of which con-

YH\VHYDOXDWLYHPHDQLQJE\LWVHOIDQGDQRWKHULVHYDOXDWLYHO\PRGLHGFI

(18) a. the exaggerated [Ishiguro 51i] respect my pupils always had for me
 ELWVVW\OLVKO\FDUYHG>,VKLJXURF@ULGJHSROH

7KHJHUXQGLVUHSUHVHQWHGDERXWHTXDOO\KDYLQJYHRFFXUUHQFHVLQFWLRQ
DQGVL[LQDFDGHPLFSURVHVHH7DEOHVDQG:KLOHDOOLQVWDQFHVLQFWLRQLO-
lustrate the postmodifying function, the academic sample contains three premodi-
fying gerunds (in one case gerunds in coordination) which, in connection with
what has been observed about a QRWDEOHQXPEHURISUHPRGLI\LQJDGMHFWLYHVDQG
ing-participles in this sample, appears to be of stylistic relevance, cf. (19):

(19) their mating calls and displays [Morris 44ia, ib], heating and cooling
SUREOHPV>0RUULVLG@RQWKHGLVVHFWLQJWDEOH>0RUULVEL@

7KHVHJHUXQGVIDOOLQWKHVHPDQWLFFODVVRIFODVVLHUVWKHLQVWDQFHVWKHPVHOYHV
being well on the way to becoming terms.
Gerunds in the postmodifying function were found after several prepositions,
of which only RI had more than one occurrence (three instances), and two gerunds
occurred as complements of worth, cf. (20) a. b. c.

(20) a. the importance of our having a house [Ishiguro 37i], the great physiologi-
cal advantage of being able [Morris 121i] to maintain a constant, high
body temperature
b. my surprise at receiving [Ishiguro 55i] such personal attention, a very
powerful reason for abolishing it [Morris 134i]
c. one worth having suffered [Ishiguro 143i] a few inconveniences for,
something worth pursuing [Morris 57non-sb head iii]

$VQRWHGLQWKHFDVHRIDGMHFWLYHVDQGing-participles, also here it is the premodi-

fying use that appears to play a role as a marker of stylistic distinction.
40 LIBUE DUKOV

3RVWPRGLFDWLRQE\DSSRVLWLRQUHODWLYHFODXVHVLQQLWLYHVDQGDGYHUEV

7KHUHPDLQLQJQRXQPRGLHUVRFFXUUHGRQO\LQSRVWPRGLFDWLRQ7ZRRIWKHVH
apposition and relative clauses, are represented by a number of examples that al-
lows drawing some conclusions.

3.4.1 As regards apposition, in Biber et al. (1999: 639) it is described as a maxi-

PDOO\ DEEUHYLDWHG IRUP RI SRVWPRGLFDWLRQ FKDUDFWHULVWLF RI UHJLVWHUV ZLWK WKH
highest informational density, viz. news and academic prose, where it accounts
IRUDERXWRIDOOSRVWPRGLHUV7KLVLVLQDJUHHPHQWZLWKWKHQGLQJVRIWKH
present study, apposition being represented by 9 examples in academic prose as
DJDLQVWWKUHHLQFWLRQFI7DEOHVDQG,QWKHWRWDORIDOOSRVWPRGLHUVLQ
the academic text under study apposition accounts for 10%, which is less than
WKHJXUHDGGXFHGLQ%LEHUHWDOEXWVWLOOPRUHWKDQWKUHHWLPHVKLJKHUWKDQWKH
UHSUHVHQWDWLRQRIDSSRVLWLRQDPRQJWKHSRVWPRGLHUVLQFWLRQYL]
However, as noted in several cases before, more illustrative than the quantita-
WLYHQGLQJVDUHWKHTXDOLWDWLYHGLIIHUHQFHVLQWKHW\SHVRIDSSRVLWLRQIRXQGLQWKH
WZRWH[WV2IWKHWKUHHLQVWDQFHVRIDSSRVLWLRQGUDZQIURPFWLRQWZRDUHRIWKH
kind most frequently displayed by this text sort, viz. equivalence involving appel-
ODWLRQ4XLUNHWDOFIDDWLWOHLQSUHSRVLWLRQLELGFI
EWKHWKLUGH[DPSOHH[SUHVVHVHTXLYDOHQFHRIWKHLGHQWLFDWLRQNLQGLELG
1309), cf. (21) c.

(21) a. Setsuko, our eldest [Ishiguro 41b]

b. Mr. Ono (in direct speech as a form of address [Ishiguro 99])
 FDQRPLQDOVXPDJXUH>,VKLJXURE@SUREDEO\QRWHYHQKDOIWKHSURS-
ertys true value

7KHH[DPSOHVIRXQGLQWKHDFDGHPLFWH[WH[SUHVVLGHQWLFDWLRQWKDWIXUWKHUVSHFL-
HVWKHUVWDSSRVLWLYHFIDH[HPSOLFDWLRQRUHQXPHUDWLRQEDQG
DFRQVHTXHQFHRIWKHFRQWHQWRIWKHUVWDSSRVLWLYHZKLFKLVDQLWHFODXVH
c.

(22) a. the symptoms, the rash [Morris 52b] that gives a doctor a clue; the mark-
ings of its fur its black feet [Morris 50c]; another species, a strange form
>0RUULVE@RIOLIHWKH\LQJPDPPDOVWKHEDWV>0RUULVE@
b. the tailless great apes such as the chimpanzee and the gorilla [Morris 83c,
d]; the burrowing mammals the naked mole rat, the aardvark and the
armadillo [Morris 144b, c, d]; the aquatic animals such as the whales, dol-
phins, porpoises, dugongs, manatees, and hippopotamuses [Morris 146b,
c, d, e, f, g]; those abnormally heave giants, the rhinos and the elephants
[Morris 153b, c]
c. we ourselves are not black-footed squirrels a fact [Morris 65b] which
forces us into an attitude of humility
 NOUN MODIFICATION IN FICTION AND ACADEMIC PROSE 41

(TXLYDOHQFHWKURXJKLGHQWLFDWLRQWKDWIXUWKHUVSHFLHVWKHFRQFHSWGHQRWHGE\
WKH UVW DSSRVLWLYH LV IRXQG LQ ERWK WH[WV EXW DSSHDUV WR EH PRUH IUHTXHQW LQ
academic prose. An obvious factor that plays a role here is the inherent need of
academic texts to express meaning with maximal exactness. The other two types
DSSHDU WR EH VSHFLF WR WKH UHVSHFWLYH WH[W VRUW HVSHFLDOO\ WLWOH LQ SUHSRVLWLRQ
WRFWLRQFIEDQGHQXPHUDWLRQH[HPSOLFDWLRQLQDFDGHPLFSURVHDVLQ
(22) b.

5HODWLYHFODXVHVDUHPRUHQXPHURXVLQWKHFWLRQVDPSOHWKDQLQDFDGHPLF
prose in the texts under study, viz. 18 vs. 12 instances. This is in agreement with
the data in Biber et al. (1999: 606, Fig. 8.13) which show relative clauses to be
PRVWIUHTXHQWLQQHZVDQGOHDVWIUHTXHQWLQFRQYHUVDWLRQZLWKFWLRQDQGDFD-
demic prose ranking in between, the former taking the place next to news. Even
the distribution of the relativizers and the registered types of relative clauses cor-
UHVSRQGZLWKWKHGHVFULSWLRQWKHUHLQLELG,QWKHFWLRQVDPSOHDKDOI
of the relative clauses (9, i.e. 50.0%) identify or characterize personal anteced-
ents. In all but one of these clauses the relative pronoun is who LQ WKH VXEMHFW
function. The only other relativizer with a personal antecedent is zero in the ob-
MHFWIXQFWLRQFIDDQGE

(23) a. two haughty grey-haired ladies who turned out to be the daughters of
Akira Sugimura [Ishiguro 54bi]; the younger sister, who had barely spo-
ken [Ishiguro 73i]
b. the house should pass to one our father would have approved of [Ishig-
uro 68ibi]

Inanimate entities were antecedents of relative clauses mostly where the relativ-
L]HUSHUIRUPHGWKHREMHFWIXQFWLRQYL]VL[LQVWDQFHVDOOGLVSOD\LQJ]HURFI
D$VDQWHFHGHQWVRIVXEMHFWUHODWLYL]HUVLQDQLPDWHHQWLWLHVRFFXUUHGWZLFHFI
b. In one clause the relativizer performed adverbial function, cf. (24) c.

(24) a. the exaggerated respect my pupils always had for me [Ishiguro 51i]; the
house our father built [Ishiguro 68i]
b. In the days which followed [Ishiguro 102i]; things that will be to our ad-
vantage [Ishiguro 128i]
c. such a contest, in which ones moral conduct and achievement are brought
as witnesses [Ishiguro 137i]

In the sample of academic prose the difference in the syntactic function of the
UHODWLYL]HUVLVPRUHSURPLQHQWFIVXEMHFWVREMHFWVZLWKLQWKHWRWDORI
UHODWLYHFODXVHVYVVXEMHFWVREMHFWVLQFWLRQZLWKLQWKHWRWDORIUHOD-
WLYHFODXVHV$VLQWKHFWLRQVDPSOHRQHUHODWLYHFODXVHFRQWDLQVDQDGYHUELDO
relativizer, when. Compare (25) a., b. and c.
42 LIBUE DUKOV

(25) a. i. Even for the zoologist, who is used to calling an animal an animal
[Morris 68i]
  LLDVSHFLDONLQGRIORFRPRWLRQZKLFKKDVPRGLHGLWVEDVLFIRUP>0RUULV
L@DQDWWLWXGHRIKXPLOLW\WKDWLVEHFRPLQJWRSURSHUVFLHQWLFLQYHVWL-
gation [Morris 65icii]
iii. abnormally heavy giants which have heating and cooling problems
[Morris 153i]; other species that appear to be closely related [Morris 74i]
b. all we can be certain about [Morris 49i]; The great advantage we have
when studying such animals [Morris 64i]
c. the moment would eventually arrive when it would be advantageous for
them to become isolated [Morris 37i]

As regards the realization form of the relativizer, the two samples are basically
FRPSDUDEOH,QERWKWKHREMHFWUHODWLYL]HULVLQYDULDEO\]HURFIDDQGE
ZKLOHWKHVXEMHFWIXQFWLRQLVLPSOHPHQWHGE\who (referring to a personal antecedent,
cf. (23a. and (25) a. i.), and which and that (in reference to non-personal inanimate
and animate antecedents, cf. (24) b. and (25) a. ii and a. iii). Whether that or which
LVIDYRXUHGLQWKHFWLRQVDPSOHFDQQRWEHMXGJHGVLQFHHDFKRFFXUUHGRQO\RQFH
there being two examples in all. In the academic sample that was found to be more
FRPPRQYHYVWKUHHLQVWDQFHVRIwhich). This differs from the data in Biber et
al. (1999: 611), where which is characterized as the most frequent relativizer in all
registers of academic prose. Looking for potential factors motivating the choice
between the two relativizers in the academic sample, a point that presents itself is
the nature of non-personal antecedents, viz. animate vs. inanimate. However, the
registered examples fail to suggest any tendency in this respect insofar as both
that and which are used to refer to either antecedent type.
$VVXJJHVWHGE\WKHUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRIWKHVXEMHFWUHODWLYL]HUVWKHJUHDWHVWGLI-
ference between the two samples, apart from the prominent prevalence of the
VXEMHFWIXQFWLRQRYHUWKHREMHFWIXQFWLRQLQDFDGHPLFSURVHDSSHDUVWRLQYROYH
WKHDQWHFHGHQWVRIWKHVXEMHFWUHODWLYL]HUV:KHUHDVLQFWLRQWKHDQWHFHGHQWVDUH
mostly personal, viz. the individual characters of the story, in academic prose
there is only one instance of this kind, illustrated in (25) a. i. Notably, even in this
instance the antecedent differs in having general reference. In the academic sam-
SOHDODUJHPDMRULW\RIWKHDQWHFHGHQWVRIVXEMHFWUHODWLYL]HUVZHUHLQDQLPDWH
instances), as in (25) a. ii., and non-personal animate (2 instances, cf. (25) a. iii).
$QRWKHU SRLQW FKDUDFWHULVWLF RI IRUPDO ZULWLQJ LV IRXQG LQ WKH PRGLFDWLRQ
structure of the noun phrase in (25) c. in that the postmodifying relative when-
clause is discontinuous, the intervening element being the verb. Discontinuous
SRVWPRGLFDWLRQDVDIHDWXUHRIIRUPDOZULWLQJKDVDOVREHHQQRWHGLQWKHFDVHRI
apposition, cf. (9).

7KHWZRUHPDLQLQJUHDOL]DWLRQIRUPVRISRVWPRGLFDWLRQWKHLQQLWLYHDQG
the adverb, each represented by three examples, are mentioned for the sake of
completeness.
 NOUN MODIFICATION IN FICTION AND ACADEMIC PROSE 43

(26) a. it is not a property to be endangered or discarded lightly [Morris 124i];

nothing further to do with them [Ishiguro 121i]; no attempts to hide
[Ishiguro151i] their hostility
 EWKHSDUWLFXODUFRQGLWLRQVWKHUH>0RUULVLF@WKHLUUHODWLYHVQHDUE\>0RU-
ris 27i]; all others nearby [Ishiguro 6b]

+HUHDFRPPHQWFDQEHPDGHRQWKHSDVVLYHIRUPRIWKHLQQLWLYHLQDFDGHPLF
prose, which is suggestive of formal text sorts, and on the phraseological nature
RIWKHLQQLWLYHto doSRVWPRGLI\LQJDQLQGHQLWHSURQRXQLQFWLRQ

&RPSOH[LW\RIWKHPRGLFDWLRQVWUXFWXUH

7KHODVWSRLQWWREHPHQWLRQHGLVWKHFRPSOH[LW\RIWKHPRGLFDWLRQVWUXFWXUHE\
which is meant expansion through coordination and subordination. Both have been
SDUWO\WUHDWHGEHIRUHYL]FRRUGLQDWLRQLQWKHFDVHRISUHPRGLFDWLRQFIDQG
HQXPHUDWLYHDSSRVLWLRQFIEDQGVXERUGLQDWLRQLQWKHFDVHRIDOOPRGLHUVRQ
WKHUVWOHYHORIGHSHQGHQFH:KDWUHPDLQVWREHGLVFXVVHGFRQFHUQVFRRUGLQDWLRQ
LQWKHQRXQSKUDVHVWUXFWXUHRFFXUULQJLQWKHKHDGQRXQDQGRULQSRVWPRGLFDWLRQ
DQGVXERUGLQDWLRQRQORZHUGHSHQGHQFHOHYHOVWKDQWKHUVW
&RRUGLQDWLRQDSSHDUVWREHPRUHFRPPRQLQWKHDFDGHPLFVDPSOHWKDQLQF-
tion, cf. coordination in the head noun in (27) a. and in different kinds of post-
PRGLFDWLRQLQE&RRUGLQDWLRQLQFWLRQLVLOOXVWUDWHGLQ

(27) a. their mating calls and displays [Morris 44a, b]; overheating and damage
[Morris 131, 131b] to the skin;
b. other living species already known and described [Morris 15i]; every as-
pect of its behaviour and structure [Morris 61b, c]; species of monkeys
DQGDSHV>0RUULVE@FRQVSLFXRXVWXIWVRIKDLURQWKHKHDGLQWKH
DUPSLWVDQGDURXQGWKHJHQLWDOV>0RUULVE@VPDOOQDNHGSDWFKHV
RIVNLQRQWKHLUUXPSVWKHLUIDFHVRUWKHLUFKHVWV>0RUULVE@

(28) a. ones moral conduct and achievement [Ishiguro 137ib, ic]; the state of the
house and alterations [Ishiguro 159b, c]
b. on grounds purely of good character and achievement [Ishiguro 66, 66b];
a closer investigation of my background and character [Ishiguro 86b, c]

$VUHJDUGVLQVWDQFHVRIPRGLFDWLRQZLWKPRUHWKDQRQHOHYHORIVXERUGLQDWLRQ
most examples in both texts display two subordination levels in different combi-
QDWLRQV$IUHTXHQWFRQJXUDWLRQFRPSULVHVWZRSUHSRVLWLRQDOSKUDVHVLQVXFFHV-
sive dependence, cf. (29).

(29) at some point in the evolution of the squirrel family [Morris 16, 16b,
E@DUDSLGVXUYH\RIWKHZKROHUDQJHRIWKHOLYLQJPDPPDOV>0RU-
ULVEE@DWRQHHQGRIWKHURZRIWKHVNLQV>0RUULV
44 LIBUE DUKOV

E E@ WKH LGHD RI DQ DXFWLRQ RI SUHVWLJH >,VKLJXUR  E
E@ WKH VHQWLPHQWV RI D IDPLO\ ZLWK VXFK D GLVWLQJXLVKHG KLVWRU\
>,VKLJXUREE@

2WKHUFRQJXUDWLRQVLOOXVWUDWHGLQDUHUDUHUHJ

(30) a. the symptoms, the rash that gives a doctor a clue (apposition + relative
clause) [Morris 52bi]
b. the steep path leading up from the little wooden bridge still referred to
around here as the Bridge of Hesitation [Ishiguro 2, 2i, 2ii] (ing- and
ed-participle)
c. a visit [Ishiguro 54] one afternoon [54b] from two haughty, grey-haired
ladies [54c] who [/R clause/ i] turned out to be the daughters (preposi-
tional phrase + relative clause)

3RVWPRGLFDWLRQLQQRXQSKUDVHVDVFRQVWLWXHQWVRIQRQQLWHFODXVHVLQYROYHVDQ
additional dependency level, cf. (31).

(31) no attempts [Ishiguro 151] to hide [151i] their hostility [151ib] to-
ZDUGVXV>LE@

6WLOOPRUHFRPSOH[LQVWDQFHVRISRVWPRGLFDWLRQDUHLOOXVWUDWHGLQ

(32) a. a fact which [Morris 65bi] forces us into an attitude [65ic] of humility
>LF@ WKDW >LFLL@ LV EHFRPLQJ WR SURSHU VFLHQWLF LQYHVWLJDWLRQ WZR
UHODWLYHFODXVHVLQVXFFHVVLYHGHSHQGHQFHFRPELQHGZLWKSRVWPRGLFD-
tion by prepositional phrase);
 EDQRWKHUVSHFLHV>0RUULV@DVWUDQJHIRUP>E@RIOLIH>E@RQWKHGLV-
VHFWLQJWDEOH>EL@DZDLWLQJ>LEL@DQDO\VLVWZRSUHSRVLWLRQDOSKUDVHV
in successive dependence, followed by a postmodifying ing-participle, the
whole structure occurring in apposition);
c. WKHQHFHGDUJDWHZD\ [21], the large area [/Co-Ord/ 21b] bound [/-ed/
i] by the garden wall>EL@the roof [/Co-Ord/ 21c] with its elegant
tiles>F@ and its stylishly carved [/-ed/ i] ridgepole>&R2UGF@
pointing out [/-ing/ ii] over the view >LLG@ FRRUGLQDWLRQ RI KHDG
QRXQVFRPELQHGZLWKSRVWPRGLFDWLRQE\QRQQLWHFODXVHVDQGSUHSR-
sitional phrases)

According to Biber et al. (1999: 578579), the complexity of noun phrases in-
creases across registers with conversation at one extreme and academic prose at
the other. Of the other registers the one closest to academic prose is news. The
UHVXOWVRIWKHSUHVHQWVWXG\GLYHUJHLQWKDWWKHPRGLFDWLRQVWUXFWXUHRIWKHWZR
samples does not essentially differ but rather shows a fairly comparable degree of
complexity. The differences that have been found consist in a greater representa-
 NOUN MODIFICATION IN FICTION AND ACADEMIC PROSE 45

WLRQRIPRGLHGQRXQSKUDVHVLQWKHDFDGHPLFVDPSOHZKLFKSURYLGHVJURXQGIRU
DKLJKHUUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRI13VZLWKFRPSOH[PRGLFDWLRQVWUXFWXUH$VUHJDUGV
WKH FRPSOH[ PRGLFDWLRQ VWUXFWXUH LWVHOI WKH PRVW QRWLFHDEOH GLIIHUHQFH LV WKH
combination of multiple coordination and subordination in the academic sample,
especially in the case of apposition. The similarity between the two text sorts
LQWKLVUHVSHFWLVWREHDVFULEHGWRWKHUDWKHUIRUPDOWHQRURIWKHFWLRQVDPSOH
shown in addition to the adduced features, even by one instance of discontinuous
structure (cf. (30) c.)

4. Conclusion

The conclusions to be drawn from the foregoing discussion concern both non-
PRGLHG DQG PRGLHG QRXQ SKUDVHV 7KH KLJKHU UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ RI WKH IRUPHU
LQFWLRQDSSHDUVWREHDWOHDVWSDUWO\GXHWRDUHODWLYHO\KLJKIUHTXHQF\RIRF-
FXUUHQFH RI SURSHU QDPHV ZKRVH PRGLFDWLRQ LV JUHDWO\ UHVWULFWHG LQ JHQHUDO
In the academic sample this category is marginal. On the other hand the higher
UHSUHVHQWDWLRQRIPRGLHGQRXQSKUDVHVLQWKHODWWHUVDPSOHDSSHDUVWREHDWOHDVW
partly connected with the structure of technical terms, which are frequently two-
ZRUGIRUPDWLRQVZLWKWKHPRGLHUVSHFLI\LQJWKHPHDQLQJRIWKHKHDGQRXQRU
designating a subcategory of the concept denoted by the head noun.
Another feature of stylistic relevance was noted in the semantics of the pre-
PRGLHUV:KLOHLQWKHDFDGHPLFVDPSOHWKHVHPRGLHUVLQFOXGLQJQRWRQO\DG-
MHFWLYHV EXW DOVR SUHPRGLI\LQJ SDUWLFLSOHV DQG JHUXQGV H[SUHVV FODVVLFDWRU\
PHDQLQJ DQG RIWHQ IXQFWLRQ DV FRPSRQHQWV RI WHFKQLFDO WHUPV LQ FWLRQ WKH\
FRQYH\GHVFULSWLYHRUHYDOXDWLYHPHDQLQJDQGQRQQLWHIRUPVDUHUDUHULQWKLV
function.
%RWK TXDQWLWDWLYH DQG TXDOLWDWLYH GLIIHUHQFHV UHHFWLQJ WKH VXEMHFW PDWWHU RI
the texts were further noted in the case of the possessive case and apposition.
While the possessive case, in connection with the relatively frequent occurrence
RI SURSHU QDPHV DSSHDUV WR FKDUDFWHUL]H FWLRQ DSSRVLWLRQ HVSHFLDOO\ RI WKH
HQXPHUDWLYHH[HPSOLFDWRU\W\SHUHHFWVWKHH[SRVLWRU\QDWXUHRIWKHH[DPLQHG
academic text.
0LQRU GLIIHUHQFHV FRQQHFWHG ZLWK WKH VXEMHFW PDWWHU ZHUH DOVR IRXQG LQ
the case of relative clauses. The syntactic functions of the relativizers differed
LQDPDUNHGSUHYDOHQFHRIWKHVXEMHFWIXQFWLRQLQWKHDFDGHPLFVDPSOHZKHUHDV
WKHFWLRQVDPSOHGLVSOD\HGJUHDWSUHGRPLQDQFHRISHUVRQDODQWHFHGHQWVRIWKH
VXEMHFWUHODWLYL]HUV,QDFDGHPLFSURVHWKHUHZDVRQO\RQHLQVWDQFHRIWKLVNLQG
DODUJHPDMRULW\RIWKHDQWHFHGHQWVRIVXEMHFWUHODWLYL]HUVEHLQJLQDQLPDWH
$VUHJDUGVWKHGHJUHHRIFRPSOH[LW\LQWKHPRGLFDWLRQVWUXFWXUHQRPDMRU
differences, either quantitative or qualitative, were noted in the two texts. This
is ascribable to the formal, rather than informal tenor of the narrative, and may
be classed as a feature of the authors style. Similarly, the high representation
of apposition and the particular types in the academic sample may be due to the
46 LIBUE DUKOV

SDUWLFXODUHOGRIVWXG\IURPZKLFKWKHWH[WLVGUDZQ1HYHUWKHOHVVVRPHRIWKH
points that have been made, notably the role of proper names, the distribution
DQGVHPDQWLFVRISUHPRGLHUVDQGSRVVLEO\VRPHRWKHUVPD\EHDIIRUGHGPRUH
general stylistic relevance.

Notes

* 6W\OLVWLFV EHLQJ RQH RI WKH PDMRU VSKHUHV RI $VVRFLDWH 3URIHVVRU /XGPLOD 8UEDQRYiV
DFDGHPLFSXUVXLWVP\SDSHUIRUWKHSUHVHQWRFFDVLRQGHDOVZLWKDWRSLFIURPWKLVHOGDV
a way of paying her a modest but heart-felt tribute.
1 In the appended texts noun phrases containing one noun are denoted successively by Arabic
QXPHUDOVQRXQSKUDVHVIXQFWLRQLQJDVFRPSRQHQWVRIPRGLFDWLRQVWUXFWXUHV
DUH PDUNHG E\$UDELF QXPHUDOV DQG OHWWHUV E F  &ODXVDO PRGLHUV QRQQLWH DQG
QLWHDUHGHQRWHGE\VPDOO5RPDQQXPHUDOVLLLLLLLYDQGORZHUGHSHQGHQF\OHYHOV
DUHLQGLFDWHGE\*UHHNOHWWHUV7KHPDUNLQJLVJLYHQLQVTXDUHEUDFNHWVDIWHUHDFK
noun.
2 According to Huddleston and Pullum (2002: 326ff.), pronouns are a subcategory of nouns.
3 )RUH[DPSOHWKHUHZHUHQRLQVWDQFHVRIDGMHFWLYDOKHDGVVXFKDVthe poor, the city poor.

Appendix

Text Ishiguro

If on a sunny day [1] you climb the steep path [2] leading up [/-ing/ i] from the little wooden
bridge [2ib] still referred to [/-ed/ ii] around here as the Bridge [2iic] of Hesitation>LLF@\RXZLOO
not have to walk far before the roof [3] of my house [3b] becomes visible between the tops [4] of
two gingko trees [4b]. Even if it did not occupy such a commanding [/i/-ing] position [5] on the hill
[5b], the house [6] would still stand out from all others [non-sb head] nearby [6b], so that as you
come up the path>@\RXPD\QG\RXUVHOIZRQGHULQJwhat sort [8] of wealthy man [8b] owns it.
But then I am not, nor have I ever been, a wealthy man [9]. The imposing [-ing/ i] air [10] of the
house [10b] will be accounted for, perhaps, if I inform you that it was built by my predecessor [11],
and that he was none other than Akira Sugimura [12]. Of course, you may be new to this city [13],
in which case [14] the name [15] of Akira Sugimura [15b] may not be familiar to you. But mention
it to anyone [non-sb head] who [/R clause/ i] lived here before the war [16i] and you will learn that
for thirty years or so [17], Sugimura [18] was unquestionably amongst the citys [19b] most re-
VSHFWHGDQGLQXHQWLDOPHQ [19]. If I tell you this, and when arriving at the top [20] of the hill [20b]
you stand and look at WKHQHFHGDUJDWHZD\ [21], the large area [/Co-Ord/ 21b] bound [/-ed/ i] by
the garden wall>EL@the roof [/Co-Ord/ 21c] with its elegant tiles>F@ and its stylishly carved
[/-ed/ i] ridgepole>&R2UGF@pointing out [/-ing/ ii] over the view>LLG@\RXPD\ZHOO
wonder how I came to acquire such a property [22], being as I claim a man [23] of only moderate
means [23b]. The truth [24] is, I bought the house [25] for a nominal sum [26] - DJXUH [26b] prob-
ably not even half the propertys >E@true value>E@at that time [27]. This was made pos-
sible owing to a most curious some may say foolish procedure [28] instigated [/i/ -ed] by the
Sugimura family [28ib] during the sale [29]. It is now already a thing [30] RIVRPHIWHHQ\HDUV
[30b] ago. In those days [31], when my circumstances [32] seemed to improve with each month
[33], my wife>@KDGEHJXQWRSUHVVPHWRQGa new house [35]. With her usual foresight [36],
she had argued the importance [37] of our having [/gerund/ i] a house [37ib] in keeping [/gerund/
ii] with our status [37iic] not out of vanity [38], but for the sake of our childrens [39b] marriage
 NOUN MODIFICATION IN FICTION AND ACADEMIC PROSE 47

prospects [39]. I saw the sense [40] in this, but since Setsuko [41], our eldest [41b], was still only
IRXUWHHQRUIWHHQ,GLGQRWJRDERXWthe matter [42] with any urgency [43]. Nevertheless, for a year
or so [44], whenever I heard of a suitable house [45] for sale [45b], I would remember to make
enquiries [46]. It was one [non-sb head] of my pupils [47b] who>5FODXVHL@UVWEURXJKWLWto my
attention [47ic] that Akira Sugimuras [48b] house [48], a year [48c] after his death>F@ZDVWR
be sold off. That I should buy such a house [49] seemed absurd, and I put the suggestion [50] down
to the exaggerated respect [51] [/R clause/ i] my pupils [51ib] always had for me. But I made en-
quiries [52] all the same, and gained an unexpected response [53]. I received a visit [54] one after-
noon [54b] from two haughty, grey-haired ladies [54c] who [/R clause/ i] turned out to be the
daughters [54id] of Akira Sugimura >LG@:KHQ , H[SUHVVHG P\ surprise [55] at receiving [/
gerund/ i] such personal attention [55ib] from a family [56] of such distinction [56b], the elder [57]
of the sisters [57b] told me coldly that they had not come simply out of courtesy [58]. Over the
previous months [59], a fair number [60] of enquiries [60b] had been received for their late fathers
>F@house [60c], but the family [61] had in the end [62] decided to refuse all but four [non-sb
head] of the applications [63b]. These four applicants [64] had been selected carefully by family
members [65] on grounds purely of good character [66] and achievement [Co-Ord 66b]. It is of the
UVWLPSRUWDQFH [67] to us, she went on, that the house [68] [/R clause/ i] our father [68ib] built
should pass to one [non-sb head] [/R clause/ 68ibi] he would have approved of and deemed worthy
of it. Of course, circumstances [69] oblige us to consider WKHQDQFLDODVSHFW [70], but this is strict-
ly secondary. We have therefore set a price [71]. At this point [72], the younger sister [73], who [/R
clause/ i] had barely spoken, presented me with an envelope [74], and they watched me sternly as I
opened it. Inside was a single sheet [75] of paper [75b], blank but for DJXUH [75c] written [/-ed/ i]
elegantly with an ink brush [75id]. I was about to express my astonishment [76] at the low price
[76b], but then saw from the faces [77] before me [77b] that further discussion [78] RIQDQFHV
[78b] would be considered distasteful. The elder sister [79] said simply: It will not be in the inter-
ests [80] of any [non-sb head] of you [80b] to try to outbid one another. We are not interested in
receiving anything [non-sb head] beyond the quoted [/ed/ i] price [81b]. What we mean to do from
here on is to conduct an auction [82] of prestige [82b]. They had come in person [83], she ex-
plained, to ask formally on behalf of the Sugimura family [84] that I submit myself - along, of
course, with the other three applicants [85] - to a closer investigation [86] of my background [86b]
and credentials [/Co-Ord/ 86c]. A suitable buyer [87] could thus be chosen. It was an eccentric
procedure [88], but I saw nothing [non-sb head] REMHFWLRQDEOH about it [89b]; it was, after all, much
the same as being involved in a marriage negotiation>@,QGHHG,IHOWVRPHZKDWDWWHUHGWREH
considered by this old and hidebound family [91] as a worthy candidate [92]. When I gave my
consent [93] to the investigation [93b], and expressed my gratitude [94] to them, the younger sister
[95] addressed me IRUWKHUVWWLPH [96], saying: Our father [97] was a cultured man [98], Mr Ono
[99]. He had much respect [100] for artists [100b]. Indeed, he knew of your work [101]. In the days
[102] which [/R clause/ i] followed, I made enquiries [103] of my own [103b], and discovered the
truth [104] of the younger sisters >E@words [104b]; Akira Sugimura [105] had indeed been
something [non-sb head] of an art enthusiast [106b] who [/R clause/ i] on numerous occasions
[106ic] had supported exhibitions [106id] with his money [106ie]. I also came across certain inter-
esting rumours [107]: DVLJQLFDQWVHFWLRQ [108] of the Sugimura family [108b], it seemed, had
been against selling the house [109] at all, and there had been some bitter arguments [110]. In the
end [111], QDQFLDOSUHVVXUHV [112] meant a sale [113] was inevitable, and the odd procedures [114]
around the transaction [114b] represented the compromise [115] reached [/-ed/ i] with those [115ib
non-sb head] who [/R clause/ ii] had not wished the house [115iic] to pass out of the family [115iid].
That there was something [non-sb head] high-handed about these arrangements [116b] there was no
denying; but for my part [117], I was prepared to sympathize with the sentiments [118] of a family
[118b] with such a distinguished history>E@My wife [119], however, did not take kindly to
the idea [120] of an investigation [120b]. Who do they think they are? she protested. We should
tell them we want nothing [non-sb head] further to do [/inf/ 121i] with them. But wheres the harm
[122]? I pointed out. We have nothing [non-sb head] [/R clause/ i 123] we wouldnt want them to
48 LIBUE DUKOV

discover. True, I dont have a wealthy background [124], but no doubt [125] the Sugimuras [126]
know that already, and they still think us worthy candidates [127]. Let them investigate, they can
RQO\QGthings [128] that [/R clause/ i] will be to our advantage [128ib]. And I made a point [129]
of adding [/gerund/ i]: In any case [130], theyre doing no more than they would if we were nego-
tiating a marriage [131] with them. Well have to get used to this sort [132] of thing [132b]. Besides,
there was surely much to admire in the idea [133] of an auction [133b] of prestige>E@DVthe
elder daughter [134] called it. One wonders why things [135] are not settled more often by such
means [136]. How so much more honourable is such a contest [137], in which [/R clause/ i] ones
>LE@moral conduct [137ib] and achievement [Co-Ord 137ic]] are brought as witnesses [137id]
rather than the size [137ie] of oneV>LI@ purse [137if]. I can still recall the deep satisfaction
[138] [/R clause/ i] I felt when I learnt the Sugimuras [139] - after the most thorough investigation
[140] - had deemed me the most worthy of the house [141] [/R clause/ i] they so prized. And cer-
tainly, the house [142] is one [non-sb head ] worth having suffered [/gerund/ 143i] a few inconven-
iences [143ib] for; despite its impressive and imposing [/-ing/ i] exterior [144], it is inside a place
[145] of soft, natural woods [145b] selected [/-ed/ i] for the beauty [145ib] of their grains>LE@
DQGDOO>QRQVEKHDG@RIXV>E@ZKROLYHGLQLW>5FODXVHL@FDPHWRQGLWPRVWFRQGXFLYHWR
relaxation [147] and calm [Co-Ord 147b]. For all that, the Sugimuras [148b] high-handedness
[148] was apparent everywhere during the transactions [149], some family members [150] making
no attempts [151] to hide [/inf/ i] their hostility [151ib] towards us >LE@DQGa less understand-
ing buyer [152] might well have taken offence [153] and abandoned the whole matter [154]. Even
in later years [155] I would sometimes encounter by chance [156] some member [157] of the fam-
ily [157b] who [/R clause/ i], instead of exchanging the usual kind [157b] of polite talk>EL@
would stand there in the street [158] interrogating me as to the state [159] of the house [159b] and
any alterations [Co-Ord 159c] I had made [/R clause/ i]. These days [160], I hardly ever hear of the
Sugimuras [161]. I did, though, receive a visit [162] shortly after the surrender [163] from the
younger [non-sb head b] of the two sistersE@who [/R clause/ i] had approached me at the time
>ELF@of the sale>ELF@The war years [164] had turned her into a thin, ailing old woman
[165].

Text Morris

THERE is a label [1] on a cage [2] at a certain zoo [2b] [/R clause/ i] that states simply, This
animal [3] is new to science [4]. Inside the cage [5] there sits a small squirrel [6]. It has black
feet [7] and it comes from Africa [8]. No black-footed squirrel [9] has ever been found in that
continent [10] before. Nothing is known about it. It has no name [11].
For the zoologist [12] it presents an immediate challenge [13]. What is it about its way [14]
of life [14b] that has made it unique? How does it differ from the three hundred and sixty-six
other living [/ing-participle/ i] species [15] of squirrels [15b] already known and described [Co-
Ord /ed-participle/ i]? Somehow, at some point [16] in the evolution [16b] of the squirrel family
>E@the ancestors [17] of this animal [17b] must have split off from the rest [18] and estab-
lished themselves as an independent breeding [/ing-participle/ i] population [19]. What was it in
the environment [20] that made possible their isolation [21] as a new form [22] of life [22b]? The
new trend [23] must have started out in a small way [24], with a group [25] of squirrels [25b] in
one area>E@EHFRPLQJ>ing-participle/ i] slightly changed and better adapted to the particular
conditions [25ic] there>DGYHUE@%XWat this stage [26] they would still be able to interbreed
with their relatives [27] nearby [/adverb/ i]. The new form [28] would be at a slight advantage
[29] in its special region [30], but it would be no more than a race [31] of the basic species [31b]
and could be swamped out, reabsorbed into the mainstream [32] at any point [33]. If, as time
[34] passed, the new squirrels [35] became more and more perfectly tuned-in to their particular
environment [36], the moment [37] would eventually arrive when [/R clause/ i] it would be ad-
 NOUN MODIFICATION IN FICTION AND ACADEMIC PROSE 49

vantageous for them to become isolated from possible contamination [38] by their neighbours
[38b]. At this stage [39] their social and sexual behaviour [40] would undergo VSHFLDOPRGLFD-
tions [41], making [/ing-participle/ i] interbreeding [41ib] with other kinds [41ic] of squirrels
>LF@XQOLNHO\DQGHYHQWXDOO\LPSRVVLEOH$WUVWtheir anatomy [42] may have changed and
become better at coping with the special food [43] of the district [43b], but later their mating
[/gerund/ i] calls [44a] and displays [Co-Ord 44b] would also differ, ensuring that they attract
only mates [45] of the new type [45b]. At last, a new species [46] would have evolved, separate
and discrete, a unique form [46b] of life>E@a three hundred and sixty-seventh kind [46c] of
squirrel>F@
When we look DWRXUXQLGHQWLHGVTXLUUHO [47] in its zoo cage [47b], we can only guess about
these things [48]. All [non-sb head] [/R clause/ 49i] we can be certain about is that the mark-
ings [50] of its fur [50b] its black feet [50c] indicate that it is a new form [51]. But these are
only the symptoms [52], the rash [52b] that [/R clause/ i] gives a doctor [53] a clue [54] about
his patients>E@disease [54b]. To really understand this new species [55], we must use these
clues [56] only as a starting [/-ing participle/ i] point [57], telling [/-ing participle/ ii] us there
is something worth pursuing [non-sb head] [/gerund/ iii]. We might try to guess at the animals
[58b] history [58], but that would be presumptuous and dangerous. Instead we will start humbly
by giving it a simple and obvious label [59]: we will call it the African black-footed squirrel [60].
Now we must observe and record every aspect [61] of its behaviour [61b] and structure [Co-Ord
61c] and see how it differs from, or is similar to, other squirrels [62]. Then, little by little, we can
piece together its story [63].
The great advantage [64] we [/R clause i] have when studying such animals [64ib] is that we
ourselves are not black-footed squirrels [65] a fact [65b] which [/R clause i] forces us into an
attitude [65ic] of humility>LF@WKDW>5FODXVHLL@LVEHFRPLQJWRSURSHUVFLHQWLFLQYHVWLJD-
tion [65iid]. How different things [66] are, how depressingly different, when we attempt to study
the human animal [67]. Even for the zoologist [68], who [/R clause/ i] is used to calling an animal
[68ib] an animal>LF@LWLVGLIFXOWWRDYRLGthe arrogance [69] RIVXEMHFWLYHLQYROYHPHQW [69b].
We can try to overcome this to some extent [70] by deliberately and rather coyly approaching [/
gerund/ i] the human being [71i] as if he were another species [72], a strange form [72b] of life
>E@on the dissecting [/gerund/ i] table>EL@DZDLWLQJ>ing participle/ i] analysis [72ibi].
How can we begin?
As with the new squirrel [73], we can start by comparing him with other species [74] that [/R
clause/ i] appear to be most closely related. From his teeth [75], his hands [Co-Ord 75b], his eyes
[Co-Ord 75c] and various other anatomical features [Co-Ord 75d], he is obviously a primate [76]
of some sort [76b], but of a very odd kind [76c]. Just how odd becomes clear when we lay out in
a long row [77] the skins [78] of the one hundred and ninety-two living [/-ing participle/ i] spe-
cies [78b] of monkeys>E@DQGapes>&R2UGE@DQGWKHQWU\WRLQVHUWa human pelt [79] at
a suitable point [80] somewhere in this long series [81]. Wherever we put it, it looks out of place.
Eventually we are driven to position it right at one end [82] of the row [82b] of skins>E@QH[Wto
the hides [83] of the tailless great apes [83b] such as the chimpanzee [83c] and the gorilla [Co-Ord
83d]. Even here it is obtrusively different. The legs [84] are too long, the arms [85] are too short and
the feet [86] are rather strange. Clearly this species [87] of primate [87b] has developed a special
kind [88] of locomotion>E@ZKLFK>5FODXVHL@KDVPRGLHGLWVbasic form [88bic]. But there is
another characteristic [89] that [/R clause/ i] cries out for attention [89ib]: the skin [90] is virtually
naked. Except for conspicuous tufts [91] of hair>E@RQWKHKHDG>E@in the armpits [Co-Ord
E@DQGaround the genitals>&R2UGE@the skin surface [92] is completely exposed. When
compared with the other primate species [93], the contrast [94] is dramatic. True, some species
[95] of monkeys [95b] and apes [Co-Ord 95c] have small naked patches [96] of skin [96b] on their
rumps>E@their faces>&R2UGE@RUWKHLUFKHVWV>&R2UGE@EXWQRZKHUHamongst the
other one hundred and ninety-two species [98] is there anything [non-sb head] even approaching
[/-ing participle, i] the human condition [99i]. At this point [100] and without further investigation
>@LWLVMXVWLDEOHWRQDPHthis new species [102] the naked ape [103]. It is a simple, descrip-
50 LIBUE DUKOV

tive name [104] based [/-ed participle/ i] on a simple observation [104ib], and it makes no special
assumptions [105]. Perhaps it will help us to keep a sense [106] of proportion [106b] and maintain
RXUREMHFWLYLW\ [107].
Staring at this strange specimen [108] and puzzling over WKHVLJQLFDQFH [109] of its unique
features [109b], the zoologist [110] now has to start making comparisons [111]. Where else is
nudity [112] at a premium [113]? The other primates [114] are no help [115], so it means look-
LQJIDUWKHUDHOGA rapid survey [116] of the whole range [116b] of the living [/-ing participle/
i] mammals >E@ VRRQ SURYHV WKDW WKH\ DUH UHPDUNDEO\ DWWDFKHG to their protective, furry
covering [117], and that very few [non-sb head] of the 4,237 species [118b] in existence>E@
KDYHVHHQWWRDEDQGRQLW8QOLNHtheir reptilian ancestors [119], mammals [120] have acquired
the great physiological advantage [121] of being [/gerund/ i] able to maintain a constant, high
body temperature [121ib]. This keeps the delicate machinery [122] of the body processes [122b]
tuned in for top performance [123]. It is not a property>@WREH>LQQLWLYHL@HQGDQJHUHGRU
discarded lightly. The temperature-controlling devices [125] are of vital importance [126] and
the possession [127] of a thick, hairy, insulating [/-ing participle/ i] coat [127b] obviously plays
DPDMRUUROH [128] in preventing [/gerund i] heat loss [129]. In intense sunlight [130] it will also
prevent over-heating [131] and damage [Co-Ord 131b] to the skin>E@from direct exposure
[132] to the suns>E@rays [132b]. If the hair [133] has to go, then clearly there must be
a very powerful reason [134] for abolishing [/gerund/ i] it. With few exceptions [135] this drastic
step [136] has been taken only when mammals [137] have launched themselves into an entirely
new medium [138]. 7KH\LQJ [/-ing participle/ i] mammals [139], the bats [139b], have been
forced to denude their wings [140], but they have retained their furriness [141] elsewhere and can
hardly be counted as naked species [142]. The burrowing [-ing participle/ i] mammals [143] have
in a few cases [144] the naked mole rat [144b], the aardvark [Co-Ord 144c] and the armadillo
[Co-Ord 144d], for example reduced their hair covering [145]. The aquatic animals [146] such
as the whales [Co-Ord 146b], dolphins [Co-Ord 146c], porpoises [Co-Ord 146d], dugongs [Co-
Ord 146e], manatees [Co-Ord 146f] and hippopotamuses [Co-Ord 146g] have also gone naked
as part [147] of a general streamlining [147b]. But for all the more typical surface-dwelling
mammals [148], whether scampering about on the ground [149] or clambering around in the
vegetation [150], a dense hairy hide [151] is the basic rule [152]. Apart from those abnormally
heavy giants [153], the rhinos [153b] and the elephants [Co-Ord 153c] (which [/R clause/ i] have
heating and cooling [/gerund/ ii] problems>LG@RIWKHLURZQ>LG@the naked ape [154]
stands alone, [marked off by his nudity from all the thousands of hairy, shaggy or furry land-
dwelling mammalian species.]

Sources

Desmon Morris, The Naked Ape. Triad Grafton Books. London, 1977. Pp. 1316.
Kazuo Ishiguro, $Q$UWLVWRIWKH)ORDWLQJ:RUOG Faber and Faber. London, 1990. Pp. 711.

References

Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, and Edward Finegan (1999) Long-
PDQ*UDPPDURI6SRNHQDQG:ULWWHQ(QJOLVK London: Longman.
Huddleston, Rodney D. and Geoffrey K. Pullum (2002) 7KH&DPEULGJH*UDPPDURIWKH(QJOLVK
Language. Cambridge: University Press.
4XLUN5DQGROSK6LGQH\*UHHQEDXP*HRIIUH\/HHFKDQG-DQ6YDUWYLNA Comprehensive
*UDPPDURIWKH(QJOLVK/DQJXDJH London: Longman.
 NOUN MODIFICATION IN FICTION AND ACADEMIC PROSE 51

LIBUE DUKOV is Professor Emerita of English Language at the Department of English Language
and ELT Methodology, Charles University, Prague. Her books include 0OXYQLFHVRXDVQpDQJOLWLQ\
QDSR]DGtHWLQ\ (A Grammar of Contemporary English against the background of Czech) and
two volumes of Studies in the English Language. She is the author of the translation of Vilm
Mathesius 2EVDKRYUR]ERUVRXDVQpDQJOLWLQ\QD]iNODGREHFQOLQJYLVWLFNpP (A Functional
$QDO\VLVRI3UHVHQW'D\(QJOLVKRQD*HQHUDO/LQJXLVWLF%DVLV), editor of the English translation
of Dictionnaire de lcole linguistique de Prague ('LFWLRQDU\RIWKH3UDJXH6FKRRORI/LQJXLVWLFV)
DQGFKLHIHGLWRURIWKHLQWHUQDWLRQDODFDGHPLFMRXUQDOLinguistica Pragensia. Her recent research
concentrates on the relations between syntax and information structure, with extension into text
organization.

Address: Prof. PhDr. Libue Dukov, Dr.Sc., Department of English Language and ELT Method-
ology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, nm. Jana Palacha 2, 116 38 Prague 1, Czech Republic.
[e-mail: libuse.duskova@ff.cuni.cz]
 Brno Studies in English
Volume 35, No. 2, 2009
ISSN 0524-6881

ALE KLGR

THE FIFTH ELEMENT:

A REMARK ON THE FSP FACTORS

Abstract
It has become canonical when listing the factors signalling Functional Sentence
3HUVSHFWLYH)63WRQDPHIRXURIWKHPOLQHDUPRGLFDWLRQVHPDQWLFVWUXFWXUH
context and (emphatic, contrasting, and focusing) intonation. The paper argues
for the inclusion of one more candidate for the status of a potential FSP indica-
tor typography or punctuation to cover cases where FSP-relevant intonation
is marked by typographic devices, such as italics, boldface, small capitals, etc.,
in written text. Acknowledgement of punctuation marking FSP-relevant prosody
in writing, however marginal and discretionary, as a potential contributory fac-
WRUWKHIWKHOHPHQWLQGHFRGLQJ)63ZRXOGEHPHWKRGRORJLFDOO\VRXQG
and consistent. It would also be a useful antidote to the widespread practice of
using self-supplied intonation in the FSP analysis of written communication,
which, strictly speaking, somewhat presumptuously amounts to confusing two
different modes of language and oversteps the boundary between the writer and
the reader of the text.

Key words
)63IDFWRUVSRWHQWLDOLW\LQWRQDWLRQSXQFWXDWLRQHPSKDVLV

Information structure or Functional Sentence Perspective (FSP) as developed

by Firbas (1992) and referred to in this paper is essentially about a special type
of meaning which words acquire in text/sentence, a meaning relevant to what is
being communicated and integral to the import of the message. It is this mean-
ing that Leech (1981: 1920), in his outline of seven types of meaning, calls
thematic meaning and lists alongside conceptual and associative meanings.
Thematic meaning is described there as what is communicated by the way in
which a speaker or writer organizes the message, in terms of ordering, focus, and
54 ALE KLGR

emphasis. Cruse (2006: 181) goes on to add that the two main dimensions of
thematic meaning are topic vs comment and given vs new information.
4XLWHFOHDUO\WKHPDWLFPHDQLQJZLWKDQLQIRUPDWLRQVWUXFWXUHLQGLFDWLQJIXQF-
tion is not an inherent feature of linguistic units. It has to be generated each
time anew with every new text/context. It arises from speaker-hearer interaction
and is in principle calculable from the text. Such a description, of course, falls
straight into the realm of pragmatics and, although FSP theory came into being
long before and independently of the emergence of pragmatics, the investiga-
WLRQRILQIRUPDWLRQVWUXFWXUHLVQRZDGD\VVXEVXPHGXQGHUWKLVHOGRIVWXG\6R
for example, Horn and Wards (2004) 7KH+DQGERRNRI3UDJPDWLFV devotes two
chapters to FSP issues. Both of them mention Firbas (though not his compre-
hensive monograph), but only the second one, Gundel and Fretheims Topic and
)RFXVJLYHVGXHFUHGLWWRWKHH[WHQWRIUHVHDUFKLQWRWKLVHOGLQ&]HFKOLQJXLVWLFV
(175176): Work of the Czech linguist Mathesius in the 1920s (e.g. Mathesius
LQLWLDWHGDULFKDQGKLJKO\LQXHQWLDOWUDGLWLRQRIUHVHDUFKLQWKLVDUHDZLWK-
in the Prague School that continues to the present day (see Firbas 1966, Dane
1974, Sgall et al. 1973, Sgall et al. 1986, inter alia).
In the Brno approach to FSP the distribution of thematic meaning in the sen-
tence is viewed in terms of communicative dynamism (CD) conveyed by the
sentence elements with varying degrees of CD. The pragmatic functional load,
i.e. the degree of CD, carried by sentence elements is computed primarily from
WKUHH)63IDFWRUVWKHOLQHDUPRGLFDWLRQFRQWH[WDQGVHPDQWLFVWUXFWXUHRIWKH
sentence. (The semantic factor broadly speaking refers to Leechs other types of
meaning, conceptual and associative.) In the spoken language, the interplay of
these factors is extended by a fourth factor, intonation (prosody). To quote Firbas
(1992: 218), Intonation, which is absent from the inventory of the means of the
ZULWWHQODQJXDJHLQGHHGUHHFWVWKH&'GLVWULEXWLRQDVGHWHUPLQHGE\WKHLQWHU-
play of the non-prosodic FSP factors.
Thus, decoding FSP in a written sentence, according to Firbas (1992: 219),
goes by the signals provided by the (i) syntactic implementation of a given sen-
tence element and its relations to other elements, which activates its semantic
content and character, and/or its (ii) linear position, and/or (iii) the elements rela-
tion to the immediately relevant context. As regards intonation, Firbas explains
WKDW>LW@DVVHUWVLWVHOILQLWVVSHFLFFRQWULEXWRU\ZD\LILWHIIHFWVSURVRGLFLQWHQ-
VLFDWLRQQRQUHHYDOXDWLQJRUUHHYDOXDWLQJDQGWKHUHE\UDLVHVWKHGHJUHHRI&'
DOUHDG\DVVLJQHGWRWKHHOHPHQWE\WKHQRQSURVRGLFIDFWRUV+HQFHKHUHMHFWV
claims that CD can be equated with prosodic prominence (PP): As a participant
in the interplay of FSP factors, intonation cannot operate independently of the
other FSP factors. Firbas is said (Adam 2007: 35) to have likened it to a running
attitudinal commentary on the content of the utterance, capable of changing the
overall distribution of CD, even causing the theme to become the bearer of the
highest degree of CD.
The standard description of the role of intonation as an FSP feature, i.e. the
relation between the degrees of communicative dynamism and those of prosodic
 THE FIFTH ELEMENT: A REMARK ON THE FSP FACTORS 55

prominence (PP), appears in Chamonikolasov (1995, 2007, 2010) and Adam

(2007: 357). There are three types of relation between CD and PP perfect cor-
UHVSRQGHQFH VHOHFWLYH QRQUHHYDOXDWLQJ LQWHQVLFDWLRQ DQG UHHYDOXDWLQJ LQWHQ-
VLFDWLRQ3HUIHFWFRUUHVSRQGHQFHPHDQVWKDWWKHLQWRQDWLRQFRSLHVWKHLQIRUPD-
tion structure emerging from the non-prosodic factors with the rhematic element
UHFHLYLQJWKHQXFOHDUVWUHVV6HOHFWLYHQRQUHHYDOXDWLQJLQWHQVLFDWLRQDIIHFWLQJ
the thematic element represents a deviation from the CD signalled by the non-
SURVRGLFIDFWRUV+RZHYHUWKHWKHPDWLFHOHPHQWWKRXJKSURVRGLFDOO\LQWHQVLHG
remains thematic and thus the PP distribution does not reevalute the CD distribu-
tion (e.g. His wife is okay, but he seems to have troubles with he contras-
WLYHO\LQWHQVLHGEXWWURXEOHVUHPDLQLQJSURVRGLFDOO\PRVWSURPLQHQW)LQDOO\
DQG PRVW LPSRUWDQWO\ UHHYDOXDWLQJ SURVRGLF LQWHQVLFDWLRQ GHIHDWV DV LW ZHUH
the non-prosodic factors, alters the theme-rheme sequence they would signal in
WKHDEVHQFHRIWKHLQWHQVLFDWLRQDQGSURGXFHVDQHPRWLRQDOO\PDUNHGLQIRUPD-
tion structure (I think she is wrong. Well, but she doesnt.). Accordingly, it is
maintained that intonation becomes an important FSP factor only when it endows
a sentence element with a marked emphasis.
The central idea of the present paper is very simple. Since thematic meaning
or FSP has to be calculated, i.e. worked out on the basis of the FSP factors, and
since written text offers only three such factors for FSP analysis, analysts may
sometimes come up against ambiguities and potentialities and need further help
in FSP inferencing. Actually, it is common practice in the FSP analysis of written
data to have occasional recourse even to the fourth factor, prosody, as a means
of disambiguating the theme-rheme distribution. It is interesting that the test by
intonation is used by researchers who are non-native speakers of English and
they report having no doubts about the correctness of their assignment of intona-
tion to the written sentence. Methodologically, however, the use of self-supplied
prosody in the analysis of a written text is somewhat tricky.
On the other hand, while it is generally recognized that prosody is at least
SDUWO\ WKRXJK FUXGHO\ UHHFWHG E\ RUWKRJUDSKLF PHDQV LH SXQFWXDWLRQ WKHUH
VHHPVWRKDYHEHHQQRV\VWHPDWLFVWXG\WRQGRXWZKDWWKHSXQFWXDWLRQSUDFWLFH
UHOHYDQWWRWKHPHUKHPHGLVWULEXWLRQLQ(QJOLVKLVOLNH,WLVQRWGLIFXOWWRLPDJ-
ine that the above CD-PP typology could easily be applied to the relation between
CD and typographic prominence. Such a typology would again include perfect
FRUUHVSRQGHQFHW\SRJUDSKLFDOO\XQPDUNHGVHOHFWLYHQRQUHHYDOXDWLQJLQWHQVL-
cation (typographically marking the thematic element without backgrounding the
RWKHUQRQSURVRGLFIDFWRUVDQGQDOO\UHHYDOXDWLQJLQWHQVLFDWLRQW\SRJUDSKL-
cally re-evaluating a thematic element into rhematic).
Such a study could settle the issue to what extent punctuation and FSP are
correlated, in what way, and which punctuation marks are actually used for this
purpose and how often. It could resolve such questions as to whether punctuation
marks are used only in the two cases mentioned above of selective non-reevalu-
DWLQJLQWHQVLFDWLRQZLWKQRHIIHFWRQ)63DQGUHHYDOXDWLQJSURVRGLFLQWHQVLFD-
tion, resulting in emotionally marked information structure and outweighing the
56 ALE KLGR

non-prosodic factors, or whether there are instances, for example, where punctua-
tion (typographic prominence) coincides with the other FSP factors and produces
a typographically extra marked rheme.
Certainly the information provided in the standard accounts of English punc-
tuation is not very helpful in this respect, as a look at the two largest authoritative
JUDPPDUV DQG D VSULQNOLQJ RI RWKHUV VKRZV :KLOH$SSHQGL[ , LQ 4XLUN HW DO
(1985) is described as surveying a set of prosodic devices that help to commu-
nicate grammatical and other distinctions in spoken English, Appendix II is said
to examine the visual devices that perform a similar role for written English.
The question is to what extent prosodic marking in speech is matched by visual
marking in writing. Obviously, there are limits to what typography/punctuation
can do as well as limits determined by the prevailing conventions as to the use of
the existing punctuation marks. A section in Appendix I called Prosodic marking
compared with punctuation (1606) points out that conventional punctuation is in
many respects inadequate to deal with important aspects of prosody, although
we can indicate emphasis in written English (usually by means of italics in print
and underscoring in typescript or handwriting), we cannot distinguish emphases
of radically different sound and value as in You shouldnt give her any RZ-
er; and it indicates how prosodic notation can represent these differences (You
|shouldnt give her n1\RZHUV|). It also shows how prosodic marking helps
to identify focused items in cases like these:

|John could only SE his wife from the doorway|

|John could only see his WFE from the doorway|
|John could only see his wife from the DORway|

In Appendix II punctuation marks are described as serving two purposes, the

VHSDUDWLRQRIOLQJXLVWLFXQLWVDQGWKHVSHFLFDWLRQRIDJUDPPDWLFDOVHPDQWLFRU
pragmatic function. It is the latter purpose that appears to be potentially relevant
IRU)633XQFWXDWLRQXVHGIRUVSHFLFDWLRQLQFOXGHVTXRWDWLRQPDUNVZKLFKPD\
match a heavy prosodic marking in speech (p. 1635), but the appendix men-
tions only their use to indicate a hesitation or apologetic introduction of a doubt-
ful or discordant item or doubtful validity. To mark emphasis, the Appendix
says, italics, underlining, wriggle underlining and occasionally capitals, bold face
and small capitals are typically used (I told him that his wife had come and let
him know by the way I said that I didnt think she really was his wife.).
There is no explicit mention of the focusing function in Huddleston et al. (2002).
However, in their chapter on punctuation, they introduce some interesting termi-
nological innovations. They call punctuation marks and the other devices that
fall within the domain of punctuation punctuation indicators. Those indicators
which are potential candidates for FSP marking, i.e. italics, capital letters, bold
IDFHDQGVPDOOFDSLWDOVDUHFODVVLHGDVQRQVHJPHQWDODQGYLHZHGDVPRGL-
cations of the default form, i.e. ordinary lower-case roman. Unfortunately, no
examples of punctuation indicators used as signals of emphasis are given.
 THE FIFTH ELEMENT: A REMARK ON THE FSP FACTORS 57

By contrast, Trusss (2003) popularizing book on punctuation, without men-

WLRQLQJWKHIRFXVLQJIXQFWLRQHLWKHUFRQWDLQVVHYHUDODFFLGHQWDOH[DPSOHVLQMXVW
a few pages (105126), illustrating a wide range of focusing devices, such as capi-
tals (Crocodile Dundees famous repartee: Call that a knife? THATs a KNIFE.),
quotation marks ( remember she said the comma was servile?), colon (a
TXRWHIURP*%6KDZ,QGIDXOWZLWKRQO\WKUHHWKLQJVLQWKLVVWRU\RI\RXUV
Jenkins: the beginning, the middle and the end.), and italics (The main reason
people use it, however, is that they know you cant use it wrongly. And we have
you to thank, Special Policeman Semicolon.).
Finally, Trask (1997: 107118) in his brief guide on punctuation explicitly men-
tions and demonstrates the use of punctuation marks to indicate emphasis or con-
WUDVW+HVWDUWVZLWKDVSHFLFEUDQGRITXRWDWLRQPDUNVDQGLWLVZRUWKQRWLFLQJ
that in his description he employs two more devices, italics and boldface. What
the writer is doing here is distancing KLPVHOIIURPWKHWHUPLQTXRWHV4XRWDWLRQ
marks used in this way are informally called scare quotes. His example is:
The Institute for Personal Knowledge is now offering a course in self-aware-
ness exercises.
Speaking of italics, he has this to say: Most commonly, italics are used for
emphasis or contrast that is, to draw attention to some particular part of a text.
Here are some examples:

The Battle of New Orleans was fought in January 1815, two weeks DIWHUthe
peace treaty had been signed.
According to the linguist Steven Pinker, Many prescriptive rules of gram-
mar are just plain dumb and should be deleted from the usage handbooks
[emphasis added].
Standard English usage requires insensitive rather than unsensitive.
Lemmings have, not two, but three kinds of sex chromosome.

7KHUVWWZRH[DPSOHVKHH[SODLQVLOOXVWUDWHHPSKDVLVDQGWKHODVWWZRLOOXV-
trate contrast. This is the standard way of representing emphasis or contrast
Describing boldface letters (A colon is never followed by a hyphen or a dash),
he says they are sometimes used to provide very strong emphasis, as an alterna-
tive to italics, and concludes by a note on small capitals, Very occasionally,
small capitals are used for emphasis, but it is usually preferable to use italics for
this, or even boldface.
The only quantitative study focusing on a punctuation mark and its uses (with
possible relevance for FSP) that I have come across so far is Douglass (2009)
conference paper Encoding Intonation. The Use of Italics and the Challenges
IRU7UDQVODWLRQ,QLWKHH[DPLQHVWKHGLVWULEXWLRQRILWDOLFVLQWZR(QJOLVKF-
tion texts (Henry Jamess What Maisie Knew, Frank OConnors The Complete
Stories, including the total of 278 000 tokens) and two Italians texts and ana-
lyzes the functions of this punctuation mark and the way it was dealt with in the
respective translations into Italian and English. He distinguishes between uses
58 ALE KLGR

due to punctuation conventions (designation of titles, quotations, foreign bor-

rowings, onomatopoeia, representations of dialect, narrative prominence, embed-
ded quotations) and the use marking prosodic effects, i.e. tonic prominence. He
QGVDVLJQLFDQWSURSRUWLRQRIWRQLFSURPLQHQFHXVHVWRNHQVW\SHVLQ
James, 51/36 types in OConnor). The twenty most common italic types denoting
tonic prominence, which account for 63.8 per cent of the total, include the follow-
ing words (in descending frequency order): PH\RX,LVKHUKLPVKHFDQWKDW
are, have, will, with, would, do, he, us, was, must, now.
Unfortunately, the author does not examine these italic uses denoting tonic
prominence from the FSP perspective and focuses on translation issues. Among
RWKHUWKLQJVWKHQGLQJVRIWKHSDSHUVXJJHVWWKDWWKHQXPEHURILWDOLFLVHGLWHPV
in texts may be far greater than might be expected, on the other hand their use
is idiolectal and may vary greatly from author to author. Next, the number of
tonic-prominence cases is conspicuously high compared to convention-based
uses. Finally Douglass list of the twenty most frequent italicised words bearing
WRQLFSURPLQHQFHVHHPVWRFRQUPWKHLPSUHVVLRQREWDLQHGIURP)63VWXGLHVWKDW
italics and intonation centre frequently co-occur in personal pronouns in cases
where the FSP structure is not unambiguously indicated in the written language,
i.e. in cases of potentiality. It is also clear that punctuation marks such as italics
DUHPXOWLIXQFWLRQDODQGLQVWDQFHVXQUHODWHGWR)63KDYHWREHOWHUHGRXWDQGWKDW
FSP-related punctutation marking is optional.
However, there is no doubt that written language does have certain systemic
means whereby it can substitute for the prosodic FSP factor when the occasion
arises. The relation between written and spoken language and their respective
norms was of great interest to Vachek (1973, 1989). He speaks of their functional
VSHFLFLW\DQGFRPSOHPHQWDULQHVVDQGWKHH[LVWHQFHRIFRPSHQVDWRU\PHDQVLQ
either of them (1989: 1089). One should only realize that opposed to the rich
scale of melodic and expiratory means available to the spoken norm its written
counterpart has at its disposal only a much poorer inventory of punctuation and
other differentiating means (e.g. italics, bold types, spaced print, etc.). At the
same time he stresses that the written norm and its range of devices are not infe-
rior, but simply different.
Speaking of style, Vachek (1989: 457) also draws attention to the fact that
written stylistic norms and the use of punctuation may differ across languages
and even across different stages of one and the same language. Among the par-
allels he mentions the use of the italic symbols, signalling the emphatic and/
or emotional quality of the words or word-groups and quotation marks that
may signal emotion and even carry a special colouring (irony or even sarcasm) in
addition to other things. In Russian and other languages using Cyrillic, he notes,
italics are used to signal only emphasis or emotion, but not foreign words (as is
common in English). In hand-written utterances, he observes, underlining can
be used exclusively to signal emphasis. Finally, he mentions one other device
signalling emphasis, the spacing out of graphemes which appears to be common
in Czech and German, but is rarely used in English. (The list of typographic de-
 THE FIFTH ELEMENT: A REMARK ON THE FSP FACTORS 59

vices available to signal emphasis and contrast also includes capitalization, font
size, wriggly underlining, quotation marks, coloured highlighting, and possibly
others.) Firbas (1954), in his article on English sentence punctuation, observes
that one of the differences between English and Czech is the fact that in the
English punctuation practice the emotive-volitional factor is far more prominent,
although even here it is subordinate to the grammatical factor.
To sum up, we started by pointing out the pragmatic nature of the FSP mean-
ing which is inferred from text by considering its linear arrangement, context and
semantic structure, and in the case of spoken language, by considering its (em-
phatic, contrasting, focusing) prosody. At the same time, it is taken for granted
that in writing intonation relevant for FSP may be, if partially, denoted by punc-
tuation (italics, etc.) or other typographic means. It was also pointed out that it
is common practice to use self-supplied intonation in the FSP analysis of written
communication, thus mixing up two different modes of language and blurring the
distinction between the producer and the recipient of the text. Yet, punctuation,
DIHDWXUHVSHFLFWRZULWLQJLVQHYHUPHQWLRQHGDVDSRWHQWLDOFRQWULEXWRU\IDF-
tor in decoding FSP at all. It is therefore argued, for the sake of methodological
consistence and completeness, that punctuation marking FSP-relevant prosody
in writing, however marginal and optional, should be listed among the four FSP
IDFWRUVDVWKHIWKHOHPHQWIURPZKLFK)63PD\EHLQIHUUHG

References

Adam, Martin (2007) $+DQGERRNRI)XQFWLRQDO6HQWHQFH3HUVSHFWLYH. Brno: Masarykova univer-

zita.
Chamonikolasov, Jana (1995) Intonation centre in English and Czech sentences. Brno Studies
in English 21, 915.
Chamonikolasov, Jana (2007) ,QWRQDWLRQ LQ (QJOLVK DQG &]HFK 'LDORJXHV. Brno: Masarykova
univerzita.
Chamonikolasov, Jana (2010) Communicative dynamism and prosodic prominence of pronouns
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ALE KLGR is Professor of English Linguistics at the Department of English Language and ELT
Methodology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague. He specializes in English lexicology and
lexicography. His publications include the monographs The Noun in Translation (1996) and Eng-
OLVK&RPSOH[3UHSRVLWLRQVRIWKH7\SHin spite of and Analogous Sequences (2002), translation of
Josef Vacheks 'LFWLRQDU\RIWKH3UDJXH6FKRRORI/LQJXLVWLFVZLWK/'XNRYi-HUPiN
M. Mal, and P. aldov), bilingual collocational dictionaries, e.g., Czech-English Combinatory
'LFWLRQDU\1RXQDQG9HUE (2005; with P. Key and N. Hronkov), and the Roget-style onomasio-
logical dictionary of Czech, 7H]DXUXVMD]\NDHVNpKR (2007).

Address: Prof. PhDr. Ale Klgr, CSc., Department of English Language and ELT Methodology,
Faculty of Arts, Charles University, nm. Jana Palacha 2, 116 38 Praha 1, Czech Republic. [email:
ales.klegr@ff.cuni.cz]