DISCOURSE FUNCTIONS OF WORD ORDER CHANGES IN ENGLISH DECLARATIVE SENTENCES
DISCOURSE FUNCTIONS OF WORD ORDER CHANGES IN ENGLISH DECLARATIVE SENTENCES

Summary/Abstract: Following the theoretical assumption that similarities in syntactic form may correspond to discourse-functional similarities in the use of those forms, English declarative sentences with non-subject initial elements were examined in their syntactic, textual, and pragmatic aspects. Parameters influencing discourse functions of such word order changes include syntactic ones, semantic and pragmatic ones, and semantic and textual ones. Taking discourse functions to be additional elements of meaning introduced in the propositional content of sentences with canonical word order and the contribution of such word order changes to the context in which the sentence is used, we identified two basic types: 1) pragmatic functions of achieving prominence and emphasis (creating two especially prominent positions in a sentence, initial and final, evoking a salient set the member of which is the entity denoted by the initial element, setting the theme or the "scene" of the sentence), and 2) textual ones, which chiefly deal with linking with the preceding and the following text and rearranging of elements within a sentence.

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