A multi-dimensional description of Subject assignment in English: A corpus-based study
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2006
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Adam Mickiewicz University
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Abstract
The accessibility of terms to the grammatical operation of Subject assignment seems to be constrained
by properties which can predict their level of accessibility to this function and which are
organised in a hierarchical fashion. The relevance of such feature hierarchies has been stressed in
the theory of Functional (Discourse) Grammar, and it is within this framework that the present
research has been conducted. Thus, it has been my main concern to test the validity of each of
these priority hierarchies in the process of Subject assignment and to provide a descriptive analysis
of the different factors determining Subject selection with regard to a particular language,
namely English, by analysing a corpus sample of written English and by observing whether different
levels of dominance could be determined among the relevant priority hierarchies both in
active and passive constructions. On the basis of the results obtained, a new level of hierarchical
organization has been suggested as regards these constructions, by presenting a hierarchy of
hierarchies (the Prioritising Hierarchy) which describes the different degrees of fulfilment of
these hierarchies in the accessibility of terms to Subject assignment in the English language.
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Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, vol. 42 (2006), pp. 355-391