“You turn your back and there’s somebody moving in”

Abstract

Anacrustic Coordination (AC) is a type of biclausal conjunction such that an initial clause or phrase sets up a state of affairs and is followed by and and a strongly focused second clause, for example three years it’s been sitting here and I haven’t done it. AC figures in a number of kinds of interaction. One is the topic/comment conditional, as in call it up and there’s something that actually says your number. It is a possibility for enhancing certain illocutionary acts such as threats and warnings: I’m gonna take that and I’m gonna dig it into you. It is a basis for syntactic mirativity, the coding of surprise and unexpectedness (DeLancey 1997): you turn your back and there’s somebody moving in. AC raises questions about the nature of constructions and of Construction Grammar.