Subject and Predicate: Peripheral Zones

Journal of Critical Reviews

ISSN- 2394-5125 Vol 7, Issue 3, 2020

Review Article

SUBJECT AND PREDICATE: PERIPHERAL ZONES

OLGA G. SHEVCHENKO1

1Associate Professor, Candidate of Philological Sciences, the Head of Foreign Languages and Translation Studies Department, Philology and Inter-Cultural Communication Faculty, Vitus Bering Kamchatka State University, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia.

Received: 07.11.2019 Revised: 17.12.2019 Accepted: 25.01.2020

Abstract The prototypical method is one of the most important achievements of cognitive grammar. It can be efficiently employed in describing grammatical categories, both morphological and syntactic. The system of parts of the sentence reveals the existence of the prototype, periphery, and intermediary phenomena. The given paper deals with peripheral and intermediary phenomena in the sphere of the principal parts of the sentence. The nominative-with-the-infinitive construction presents an intermediary phenomenon as one of its elements bears the features of both the subject and the predicate. Peripheral and intermediary phenomena in the field of the predicate are often to be found in sentences with poly functional verbs, among them the verb to be. The grammatical status of the element following this verb is hard to define. Keywords: Prototype, Periphery, Intermediary Zone, Subject, Predicate, Object, Apposition, Adverbial Modifier.

INTRODUCTION Nowadays cognitive linguistics has become popular in studying a So the main principles of the prototypical method of lot of branches of language science. It has gained the upper hand investigation can be formulated like this: diversity of the over other approaches to language study as it takes into account categorial elements, diffusiveness at category borders, the the relationship between human language, the mind and socio- existence of both the prototype and the periphery, the existence physical experience. The very notion of cognitive linguistics is of intermediary zones which contain elements combining treated differently: some linguists believe it to be not an features of two or more adjacent fields. independent theory but an approach that “has adopted a common set of core commitments and guiding principles, which The prototypical approach is often resorted to while has led to a diverse range of complementary, overlapping (and investigating categories of different language levels, including the sometimes competing) theories” [1]. At present time the grammatical one [5]. It is due to the fact that the prototypical principles of cognitive grammar are broadly employed in nature is most inherent in grammatical categories which are investigating different spheres of language. actually the categories of natural entities reflecting the language ontology. One of the central notions of cognitive linguistics is the prototype; it was first described in the 1970s by E. Rosch and her The notion of prototype is rather an effective means of studying co-authors. The linguists put forward the new theory of grammatical categories because they are characterized by a wide categorization according to which people categorize with variety of properties that differ both in their essence, and in the reference to a prototype. The latter is characterized by some degree of their display. This makes it possible to describe its typical features such as a family-resemblance structure; different elements as either prototypical or peripheral and to locate some degrees of category membership (as not every member is equally of them as belonging to intermediary zones. representative for a category); blurriness at the edges [2]. The This method has proved to be a helpful means of describing prototype is considered to concentrate in itself the key syntactic units, such as parts of the sentence. The aim of this properties of a given category which makes it possible to think paper is to describe some peripheral and intermediary zones in them the best instances of the category in [3]. The use of this the sphere of the main parts of the sentence – subject and notion gives a bright opportunity of explaining the existence of predicate. numerous phenomena that do not confine themselves to the category they should represent. SUBJECT AND PREDICATE AS PRINCIPAL PARTS OF THE The existence of prototypes has been explained by some factors SENTENCE [4]. In accordance with the referential theory advanced by E. The parts-of-the-sentence theory is the most traditional basis of Rosch and supported by other linguists, the cause of representing the sentence structure; it has been severely prototypicality can be traced to the fact that some instances of a criticized more than once, but still it remains a most reliable and category share more characteristics with other instances of this vital method as it reflects the interdependence of language form category than other members of the category belonging to the and contents. periphery. They have more in common with more other Traditionally, parts of the sentence are divided into principal and instances than peripheral ones. The peripheral phenomena of a secondary. The basic difference between them is the predicative category display categorial features to a less extent, they have relation which is created between the subject and the predicate less in common with the other members of the category that can so the latter make the backbone of the sentence. In the hierarchy be discovered close to the prototype. of parts of the sentence they undoubtedly occupy the highest level; however, it remains doubtful whether the subject and the predicate are elements of equal rank. This problem is closely

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connected with the peculiarities of the language under study: in (apposition), thus taking up a place within the intermediary Russian, for instance, the form of the predicate is determined by zone. the form of the subject, so it seems that the subject is more important, at least grammatically. On the other hand, in English PERIPHERAL PHENOMENA IN THE SPHERE OF THE the forms of the main parts of the sentence mostly coincide as PREDICATE well; however, the examples of discrepancy in this sphere are In the sphere of the predicate examples of the kind are especially also numerous: The entire school were by this time assembled in numerous. More often than not it is hardly possible to draw a the hall (E. Waugh). The next ten minutes was purely surgical (A. borderline between the predicate and an object, or an adverbial Christie). It looks as if the agreement between the subject and the modifier. It concerns sentences containing a verb denoting some predicate in English are rather semantic, and it is especially phase of an action followed by an infinitive (or gerund): And now evident in examples where the form of the predicate seems to be her heart began to beat (C. Ahern). The infinitive in such determined by the choice of the author alone: The public is so sentences is considered to be a part of the compound verbal kind, so very kind (W. S. Maugham). She thought that the theatre predicate. However, if we compare such sentences as She begins was unlucky and that the public were getting sick of her (W. S. to work and She begins her work we realize that they express the Maugham). same idea while in the second sentence the simple predicate is followed by the object her work. That is why it would be logical According to another opinion, the number and essence of parts of to treat the infinitive of the first sentence as an object too. The the sentence is stipulated by the valency of the verb used as same ambiguity concerns sentences including verbs with modal predicate. From this point of view the verb becomes the central meaning. The example below is rather convincing as the verb to element of the sentence. This approach agrees with the ideas want is followed by both the infinitive and nouns: I wanted expressed by representatives of semantic syntax and cognitive answers, I wanted solutions and I wanted to find them all myself grammar. (C. Ahern). Basing on such and similar examples it seems more Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between the subject and reasonable to treat the infinitive as an object; however, in their predicate The parts-of-the-sentence status of some structures in lexical meaning verbs like to want are close to modal ones which English is interpreted differently; one of them is the so-called are always followed by the infinitive and undoubtedly make the Nominative-with-the-Infinitive Construction: He had been known compound verbal predicate. to say that a miracle had crossed his way and made him believe The problem of identifying the type of predicate and its borders in miracles (I. Dinesen). If the money is missed, Parker is sure to is closely connected with the nature of the verb used in this remember having seen her come down those stairs (A. Christie). function. It often concerns verbs capable of being used as The syntactic function of the construction in question is treated notional, modal, link, and auxiliary in different contexts. The in two ways: 1) the elements of the construction perform most illustrative example is the verb to be which can be found in functions of different parts of the sentence, the nominal element any syntactic function mentioned above: He was always there to being the subject and the verbal one making a part of predicate; change the records (W. S. Maugham) – notional; It was an 2) the construction is the complex subject; the predicate is understood thing that she was to go on the stage (W. S. represented by a verb in the passive form (in the first example) Maugham) – link, modal; They were playing that night (W. S. or by a modal phrase (in the second sentence). Both points of Maugham) – auxiliary. This verb is often described as different view have their pros and cons, so in this case we deal with from other verbs due to a number of peculiarities: 1) it is the peripheral models of the English subject and predicate. most frequent English verb; 2) its paradigm differs from that of all the other verbs; 3) it is the most flexible copula from the PERIPHERAL PHENOMENA IN THE SPHERE OF THE SUBJECT grammatical point of view as it combines with many parts of There are some cases testifying to the vagueness of the borders speech; 4) in the surface structure the copula to be occurs not in between the subject and a secondary part of the sentence. One of all languages, especially in the present tense [7]. them is the model with the anticipatory “it”. This pronoun is an important structural element as it helps to build a correct English As a rule, it is not difficult to state the role of the verb to be and sentence in which the subject should precede the predicate. hence the type of predicate; however, due to grammatical Besides, this structure makes it possible to move the notional homonymy not only structural peculiarities but also semantics of subject near the end of the sentence thus making it rhematic. The such formations should be taken into consideration. The role of thing is that while choosing a language means of designating a the verb in question is different in the following pairs of world fragment a speaker is guided by two reasons closely sentences having similar surface structures: She was reading connected: how he perceives and evaluates the situation and (auxiliary verb, simple predicate) – The performance was how he wants to produce it to the interlocutor. These factors exciting (link verb, compound nominal predicate). Their bus is to presume a lot of ways of packing information [6], and the arrive soon (modal verb, compound verbal predicate) – Their procedure described above is one of them. plan is to leave soon (link verb, compound nominal predicate). Sometimes the functions of to be are combined, as it can be Sentences with the anticipatory “it” admit of two interpretations simultaneously auxiliary and link, notional and auxiliary: He was at least. According to one of them, “it” is the formal subject while waiting and angry (E. McBain). Soon he was outside, in the alley, the notional subject is placed after the predicate and is usually then walking quickly along a frozen sidewalk (J. Grisham). expressed by an infinitive, a gerund, sometimes by a noun, a Of special interest are sentences of the type He is here, where to pronoun, a prepositional phrase. Some linguists suppose here we be is followed by an adverb or a prepositional group with deal with one part of the sentence – a complex subject. However, adverbial local meaning: For months every night the story was complex parts of the sentence whose existence is typical of on the news, every day it was on the front pages of the papers (C. English syntax contain elements connected by predicative Ahern). The structure of such sentences can be treated in several relations while in the model described such relations are not ways: observed. Quite an opposite point of view states that “it” is the only subject and the infinitive / gerund is an apposition to it. This • To be is a notional verb used as a simple predicate; here, on idea agrees with the nature of the apposition whose role is to the news, on the front pages are adverbial modifiers give some additional information about the thing expressed by (obligatory adverbials) [8]. the noun modified. If we support this point of view we are to • To be is a link verb; here, on the news, on the front pages admit that a certain element of the sentence combines the being predicatives, so they make a compound nominal features of the main part (subject) and the secondary one predicate. The supporters of this approach ascribe to this type of predicate the ability to locate the subject. However,

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in formations of the kind the verb to be seems to preserve suggests the existence of intermediary types – in this case its original lexical meaning while being a typical link (when combining the meanings of place and purpose: She was at school. accompanied by a noun or an adjective) it loses this He is in hospital. meaning completely. • Such sentences are treated as a variety of the “being” CONCLUSION schema whose function is to relate a characteristic to a Parts of the sentence are many-sided formations and can display certain entry. The ways of “being” vary: the main various features that either make them close to the prototype or participant (patient) can be linked to an identifying element place them into peripheral and intermediary zones. No matter (The place on the map here is the Sahara), to a category of how many ways of identifying the part-of-the-sentence nature of class (The Sahara is a desert), to a characteristic (The a word or a phrase may exist, the diversity of these descriptions Sahara is dangerous), to a given place (The desert is in is to be accounted for by the fact that such formations can belong Africa), to the notion of mere existence (There is a desert in to the intermediary zones combining features of several parts of Africa). So among these varieties we find the model under the sentence. consideration referred to as an essive sentence. Its peculiarity is that the participant is linked not to a property REFERENCES but to an essive location [9]. 1. V. Evans, B. K. Bergen, J. Zinken, The Cognitive Linguistics • In sentences of the kind we deal with a specific kind of Enterprise: An Overview // The Cognitive Linguistics predicate that can be defined as adverbial. To be is followed Reader, London: Equinox, pp. 263-266, July 2007. by an adverb or a phrase which can bear not spatial but 2. E. Rosch, C. Mervis, Family resemblances: Studies in the temporal meaning: We were four days and nights in internal structure of categories //Cognitive Psychology 7, reaching Exeter (A. Goring). One of the arguments in favour 1975, 573-605. of the second element being a part of predicate is the 3. D. Aberra, Prototype Theory in Cognitive Linguistics. impossibility of its elimination. On the other hand, this can [Online]. Available: be stipulated by the obligatory valency of the verb. It is https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267512473 equally impossible, e.g., to omit the object in the sentence 4. D. Geeraerts, Where does prototypicality come from? She bought a book, but it does not make the noun a part of [Online]. Available: predicate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291038603_ 5. R. Nordquist, What Is Cognitive Grammar? ThoughtCo. It seems more reasonable to treat the adverb / prepositional Retrieved 2018-12-19. phrase following the verb to be as an adverbial modifier. This 6. W. Chafe, Givenness, contrastiveness, definiteness, subjects, opinion is shared by a lot of grammarians: the sentences The topics, and point of view. In Li 1976. desk was on the platform and The desk stood on the platform 7. M. Celce-Murcia, D. Larsen-Freeman, The Grammar Book. express the same idea, on the platform being an adverbial An ESL / EFL Teacher’s Course. Heinle & Heinle Publishers, modifier in both cases [10]. This point of view seems still more 1999. convincing if we compare such sentences and existential ones 8. D. Biber, S. Conrad, G. Leech, Longman Student Grammar of with the construction there is/are: There is a book on the shelf. Spoken and Written English. Harlow, 2002. The book is on the shelf. The situations described are the same; 9. R. Dirven, M. Verspoor, Cognitive Exploration of Language the sentences differ in focusing the main element. However, in and Linguistics. Amsterdam, John Benjamins Publishing sentences with the construction there is / are the predicate is Co., 2004. traditionally recognized as simple; on the shelf being an 10. A. Close, A Reference Grammar for Students of English. adverbial modifier. Hence it stands to reason to qualify similarly Longman Publishing Group, 1975. the type of predicate in the other sentence. It is confirmed by the 11. Durai Muthumani, Agaath Hedina, Juveriyah Kausar, Vijaya existence of sentences where the place of the action is not Anand, Pushpa. "Phytopharmacological activities of mentioned at all: One upon a time there was a tavern… Besides, Euphorbia thymifolia Linn.." Systematic Reviews in in English the model On the porch stood / was a stranger is Pharmacy 7.1 (2016), 30-34. Print. doi:10.5530/srp.2016.7.4 frequent enough; here the initial position of the prepositional phrase gives rise to inversion. If the phrase were a predicative, it could hardly be placed at the beginning of the sentence. So it should be treated as a separate part of the sentence – an adverbial modifier. The status of the verb to be as notional (and hence its use as a simple predicate) seems rather evident if it is accompanied by a prepositional group containing a noun with a spatial lexical meaning: She’s in the kitchen. It is easy to ask a question Where? about such parts of the sentence: Where is she today? Where are they, in the sitting-room? Such questions confirm the idea that the verb and the element answering the question where? should be treated as separate parts of the sentence. In such phrases the prepositions in, on, at are used most often, which is natural due to their spatial meaning. If the head word is expressed by a noun denoting a living being, the preposition with is often used: She is with her mummy. Sometimes the original spatial meaning of the noun is not so vivid – it can be lost to some extent if the noun denotes not an object proper but the purpose for which it is used. It concerns the words like school, hospital, bed, prison, etc. Due to the abstract seme in their lexical meaning which develops in such cases the type of adverbial modifier can’t be identified unambiguously. This phenomenon is connected with the problem of semantic classification of adverbial modifiers that can’t be terminal and

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