The placement of extra-clausal constituents in Functional Discourse Grammar

Abstract

Although Functional Discourse Grammar offers a detailed set of placement rules for the linear ordering of elements within the clause, phrase and word, little attention has been paid to the placement of extra-clausal constituents (EECs). Thus, so far there has been no systematic attempt to link the rhetorical or discourse-pragmatic functions of EECs to the position they take vis-à-vis (elements of) their host; nor has there been any attempt to integrate any observations about the position of ECCs into the general placement rules proposed in FDG. Using authentic data from various corpora of English, this paper shows that FDG can capture the (interaction between the) various interpersonal, contextual and processing factors that determine the linear placement of EECs. In addition it is argued that the placement of EECs can be integrated into the placement rules of FDG, provided that a third extra-clausal position (interpolated) is distinguished for ECCs interrupting the host.