Inversion and word order in English: A functional perspective

Abstract

English is an SVO (Subject, Verb, Object) word order language. This canonical SVO pattern is the default unmarked word-order configuration typical of English, which makes this language to be classified under the typology of SVO languages. However, driven by the major purpose of language as an instrument of human communication and social interaction, and as a semantic system for making meanings, addressors sometimes depart in their discourse from this basic canonical order of constituents where a grammaticalized system like inversion takes place, resulting in inverted constructions. Through testing and developing the Degree of Focus Hypothesis, proposed by Huffman (1993), this study, which employed a mixed methods research design, sought to explore the communicative and semantic values of inversion; and the pragmalinguistc functions of preposing, i.e., clause-initial adjuncts, to the pragmatic process of communication. The study confirmed the Degree of Focus Hypothesis where the hypothesized notion of concentration of attention stemming from inversion was found to be applicable. The paper stressed that what triggers inversion or non-inversion is a certain communicative effect such as focus rather than a relation of formal determination where one element determines mechanically the form or appearance of another. A contribution to linguistic and educational research, the paper, therefore, highlighted the importance of a human factor in the functioning of language and emphasized the need to break away from grammar-based teaching (traditional grammar) to discourse-based language teaching (communicative grammar) where languaging rather than language should be the focus of language teaching and learning.

Strategies for Word Order Variation Repair between English and Tshivenda at a Rural University

“…In English declarative sentences, the subjects always come first, the verbs second, and the objects and adverbial phrases third (Assaiqeli et al, 2021) 'The man is coming. '…”

“…Greenbaum (1991) claims that an operator is an auxiliary verb that gets moved around to form questions; does a few other special jobs in English sentences. However, in polar questions, the operator usually comes before the subject NP (Assaiqeli et al, 2021). Therefore, polar questions can be formed from the declarative sentences by using each of the following strategies as suggested (Greenbaum, 1991): i) Putting an operator to the beginning of a subject using the word order SVO:…”

“…The subject+verb+object (SVO) word order is usually followed in English declarative sentences (Assaiqeli, Maniam & Farrah, 2021). Shi and Pongpairoj (2020) claim that the English language's rule of thumb is that the subject should always precede the verb and be followed by the object.…”

“…Shi and Pongpairoj (2020) claim that the English language's rule of thumb is that the subject should always precede the verb and be followed by the object. To them, the canonical word order pattern occurring in English is the default unmarked configuration that classifies it under the typology of SVO languages (Assaiqeli et al, 2021). In English, word order is prevalently accepted if it is congruent with its grammatical rules.…”

“…Several studies have consistently been conducted worldwide to mitigate the improper use of English word order. For example, Assaiqeli et al (2021) studied English word order and found that some writers refrain from the basic canonical order of constituents and form deviant sentence constructions. Ravishankar, Abdou, Kulmizev & Søgaard (2022) studied the necessity of word order and found that a variety of English understanding tasks require appropriate information arrangement.…”