Subordination and coordination in syntax, semantics and discourse ...

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Hardarik BlühdornAdposition:(7a) die Aufräumarbeiten nach der Abschlussfeier (waren ermüdend)[the cleaning work after the leaving party (was exhausting)](7b) nach der Abschlussfeier die Aufräumarbeiten (waren ermüdend)[after the leaving party the cleaning work (was exhausting)]Thus, subordinating conjunctions and adpositions (subordinators) do not linktheir relata by linear sequence, but by government and embedding.2.3 Adverbial connectionsCoordinative and subordinative connections of the kinds discussed so far areestablished by syntactic means such as linear ordering, government andembedding. They clearly fall within the scope of syntax.Semantically equivalent connections can also be encoded by means of adverbialconnectives. In the following pairs of examples, the (a)-variants encode theconnection by means of a subordinator or coordinator, whereas the (b)-variantsencode a semantically equivalent connection by means of an adverbialconnective:(8a) Die Pinguine waren braun-gelb, während die Giraffen schwarz-weißwaren. (subordinating conjunction)[the penguins were yellow-brown, while the giraffes were black andwhite](8b) Die Pinguine waren braun-gelb. Die Giraffen dagegen waren schwarzweiß.(adverbial connective)[the penguins were yellow-brown. the giraffes, in contrast, were blackand white](9a) Die Aufräumarbeiten nach der Abschlussfeier waren sehr anstrengend.(adposition)[the cleaning work after the leaving party was very exhausting](9b) Die Abschlussfeier war ein großer Erfolg. Die Aufräumarbeiten danachwaren sehr anstrengend. (adverbial connective)[the leaving party was a great success. the cleaning work afterwards wasvery exhausting]8© 2007 Hardarik Blühdorn, Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim.
Subordination and coordination(10a) Es gab da überhaupt keine Action-Abteilung, und ich war von Tag zu Tagmieser gelaunt. (coordinating conjunction)[they didn’t even have an action department, and my mood got worse bythe day](10b) Es gab da überhaupt keine Action-Abteilung. Zudem war ich von Tag zuTag mieser gelaunt. (adverbial connective)[they didn’t even have an action department. in addition, my mood gotworse by the day]Adverbial connectives are syntactic constituents of one of their semantic relata.They are attached to that relatum as adverbial adjuncts. They may influence thetense and/or mood of the verb of that relatum, but they do not influence themorphosyntactic format of their other relatum. To their other relatum, they donot bear any syntactic relation (see Pasch et al. 2003: 485).In relation to both connected expressions, adverbial connectives do not have afixed linear position. Like most adverbials, they can be moved relatively freelywithin the relatum of which they are a constituent, and though they typicallyoccur in the right (subsequent) relatum, they can also occur in the left(antecedent) relatum:(11) Wir warten hier so lange. Ich meine, bis ihr mit dem Einkaufen fertigseid.[we’ll wait here for the time being. I mean until you have finishedshopping]Adverbial connectives link their relata neither by government and embeddingnor by linear sequence. Instead, they connect them semantically or, moreprecisely, by reference. The semantic representation of an adverbial connectivecontains a slot for a referent that cannot be identified on grounds of theinformation provided by the sentence in which the adverbial is a constituent. Inorder to identify that referent, the interpreter must look for the necessaryinformation in the preceding or following context. Depending on where therequired information is placed, we can distinguish between anaphoric (backwardoriented) and cataphoric (forward oriented) adverbial connections. Thus, theadverbial connectives dagegen [in contrast], danach [afterwards], and zudem [inaddition], in (8b), (9b) and (10b) respectively, connect their relata anaphorically,whereas so lange [for the time being] in (11) connects its relata cataphorically.In many adverbial connectives of German, the referential element ismorphologically visible. Such connectives are results of word formationprocesses in which an adpositional and a pronominal component have been© 2007 Hardarik Blühdorn, Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim. 9
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