Sense Relations in Restrictive Appositives

Abstract

Restrictive appositives are constituents that cannot be separated from the anchor. However, this type of appositive can be analyzed both syntactically and semantically. In this article, syntactically, restrictive appositives are viewed from the two perspectives: the features and the construction. Semantically, restrictive appositives are viewed from the sense relations both syntagmatic and paradigmatic ones. Therefore, this research serves three aims: 1) to explain the features of restrictive appositives, 2) to analyse the construction of restrictive appositives, and 3) to explain the sense relations built in the anchor and appositive both in presentia relation (syntagmatic relation) and in absentia relation (paradigmatic relation). The data sources are taken from three English printed media: 1) daily news The Jakarta Post, 2) weekly magazine TIME, and 3) monthly magazine Reader’s Digest. The Data are analysed through employing the method of qualitative research, that is, the method producing descriptive data, both written and oral data. To analyse such descriptive data, the distributional method of analysis with the following techniques is used: deleting, extracting, and intruding. The results indicate that: 1) restrictive appositives are full-strict, full-weak, partial-strict, and partial-weak, in features; 2) the appositional constructions, in which there are restrictive appositives, are formed on the noun-based constituents, namely noun phrase and noun clause both finite and nonfinite in nature; 3) the appositional construction has two sense relations, that is, syntagmatic and paradigmatic ones. By syntagmatic relation, appositional construction has syntactic linier relatedness. By paradigmatic relation, the constituents in the construction of apposition have sense closeness so as they are substitutable.