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Re: Canonical

Hello, Nifras

Oh, but subject/complement order IS one of those points that determines whether a clause is canonical or non-canonical.

If you look at SIEG page 24, you’ll see that it says:

"Canonical clauses consist of a subject followed by a predicate ...".

But the reversal of subject and PC means that the predicate is followed by a subject so the clause is not canonical. Compare the two examples where the subject is "the next point":

The next point is more serious. (subject followed by predicate = canonical)

More serious is the next point. (predicate followed by subject = non-canonical)

You must remember that canonical clauses package the information in the grammatically most basic way, which means the subject must be at the front, not at the end.

Is that clear now?


PaulM

Re: Canonical

Yes, sir.

I was just comparing it with the benchmark definition while thinking the order of information packaging is a bit inferior. But it is indeed to be considered.

Thank you very much, Paul.

Re: Canonical

All the constructions considered to be 'information packaging' (see Ch15) are non-canonical.

The reversal of subject and PC falls under the heading of 'information packaging', subtype 'postposing and preposing', more specifically subject-dependent inversion (see Sect 8, page 258 [47] iia/iib).

Examples of the five major canonical clause structures are given in Ch4, p78.


PaulM

Re: Canonical

Thank you so much.