Predikativens funktion i svenskan : om adjektiv som subjektiva predikativ

• The presentworkis a study within a framework of functional grammar, by which is understood a grammar that aims not only at describing variations in syntactic form, but also at identifying their communicative function. The scope of the study is limited to adjectives as predicate complements to subjects. The analysis is based on excerpts from twenty Swedish novels by different authors, and also on some spoken material. Predicate complements can occur with different types of verbs and have, broadly speaking, four possible positions in the sentence: final, middle, initial and extra-posed after the sentence. The final position in the sentence is used for predicate complements that are non-omissible, i.e. are non-omissible in order for the sentence to remain in the same context. In this position, the predicate complement is most clearly rhematic, providing information important to the communicative development of the text. The middle position is used for the omissible predicate complements, i.e. if the predicate complement is deleted, the sentence can still remain in it* s context. The initial position is occupied by predicate complements that provide inferred information. These are mostly thematic. Predicate complements in the final position outside the sentence are more independent, almost of sentence status. Variations in word-order thus affect the information structure of the sentence. These functional rules governing the placement of the predicate complements in a Swedish sentence are also valid for adverbs of manner. In Swedish, these two categories are very close in certain cases where they appear to be interchangeable.The study also shows that sentences comprising copula+predicate complement and sentences comprising verbs of the type l^igga (lie)+predicate complement partly have different functions and occur in different contexts. This functional difference can be correlated with various differences in syntactic behaviour. Verbs of the type Z-i^a+predicate complement often form a semantic unit, in which both the verb and the adjective have a reduced lexical meaning. In this unit the adjective carries the greater information value. Such units are broken by the insertion of the words där/här (there/ here). In these cases, the verb and the adjective no longer constitute a semantic unit and they regain their full lexical meaning. The sentence then has another information structure in which the information value of the verb and the adjective are equally great. Such sentences summarize and/or describe states of affairs;, they do not develope the narrative further.In a study of the function of syntactic variants, analyzing predicate complements to verbs other than copula verbs as reduced sentences is found not to be useful. Paraphrasing predicate complements by full clauses is not meaning preserving: the predicate complement receives greater emphasis and the paraphrase has other presuppositions.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Jämförande språkvetenskap och allmän lingvistik (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- General Language Studies and Linguistics (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

dok (subject category)