Grammatical Approaches to Prepositions, Adverbs, Conjunctions, and Particles in Late Modern English

Yurii Kovbasko

doi:10.5755/j01.sal.1.38.27359

Abstract

Current shift of linguistic paradigms and loss of interest in previously mainstream ‘parts of speech theory’ do not imply that all ambiguity and outstanding issues have been challenged and successfully solved. On the contrary, these issues have been put on pause, as linguists, coming to naught and being unable to set forward a univocal, straightforward solution, started refocusing their scientific pursuits. Nevertheless, the problem of parts of speech overlapping has remained of vital importance, even if it is in the background of linguistic research. This issue must be addressed from the theoretical and practical perspectives. The present study attempts to give a theoretical overview of grammatical approaches to prepositions, adverbs, conjunctions, and particles which were prevailing in the Late Modern English grammar. The analysis is based on 400 English grammar books, published over the period of Late Modern English, and is divided into three sections in conformity with certain historical periods, viz. 1700–1799, 1800–1849, 1850–1899, respectively. The research presents the major tendencies towards identification of the aforementioned categories, which characterize each historical period in English grammar and explain the current state of affairs in the parts of speech theory, providing theoretical background for further practical research on the parts of speech overlapping.

Highlights

Abstract theory’ do not imply that all ambiguity and outstanding issues have been challenged and successfully solved
The initial stage of the research outlines the conceptual principles of the general parts of speech theory which reign in the Late Modern English grammar
The aim of the present study is to provide a comprehensive review of the grammatical approaches to the overlapping PoS, viz. prepositions, adverbs, conjunctions, and particles in Late Modern English, in order to ascertain differences and similarities, which make the distinction of these categories so unique

Summary

Introduction

Abstract theory’ do not imply that all ambiguity and outstanding issues have been challenged and successfully solved. Prepositions, adverbs, conjunctions, and particles in Late Modern English, in order to ascertain differences and similarities, which make the distinction of these categories so unique This theoretical overview forms the founstudies about languages / kalbų studijos dations for the subsequent practical research of functional transposition and PoS overlapping in the language. Basic phenomena like time and space remain pristine, as their lexical representatives were coined in the early days of the language formation, but cognitive abilities to transfer such spatio-temporal relations to the other spheres of social activity have widely amplified, cf., Lepschy (1997), Fitch (2010), Hurford (2012), Kovbasko (2016), Kiełtyka (2020) In practical terms, such transfers result in overlapping of grammatical categories when one lexical unit represents different parts of speech. This period attests the final stage in earlier linguistic studies and, at the same time, is the inception of all modern theories and approaches in linguistics

Objectives

Conclusion