The Ubiquity of the Sentence

摘要: This chapter considers the larger broader functions of language and grammar. The sentence is both the highest point of grammatical explanation to which traditional grammars aspire, and in its complexity and variety the stumbling block for elaborations based on any theory. The relationships between the major components of one or more sentences, and the possible variations and subtleties admitted by a language at this level, provide the basis for the enrichment of our linguistic theories. We look here at some of the hidden agenda which lies beneath the sentential surface, the expectation and anticipation which lie beneath our pronoun system, including the other understood omissions of anaphora and elision, and the class of humour represented by riddles involving puns and scenarios involving misinformation. We examine whether our grammatical assumptions in areas such as recursion and …