Definition and Preliminary Taxonomy

• Published in: The Discourse Function of Inversion in English pp. 11 - 47
• Main Author: Birner, Betty J.
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: United Kingdom Routledge 1996; Taylor & Francis Group
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS; Vincent Van Gogh; Clause Initial Position; Preterit Form; Inverted Variant; Post-verbal Np; Subject Verb Inversion; Tobacco Pouch; Vice Versa; Preposed PP; Inversion Types; Main Verb; NATO's Decision; Preposed Constituent; SVO Sentence; Gricean Implicature; Chicago Tribune; Tv Series; Horror Movie; David's Bed; Logical Subject; Locative Inversion; Gregory Ward; Contact Lens Solution
• ISBN: 9781138967755; 1138967750; 0815325568; 9780815325567
• DOI: 10.4324/9780203820964-2

Many constructions in many languages have been termed 'inversion'; but while many researchers have dealt with inversion, few have attempted to define it. Likewise, although much has been written specifically about locative inversion, little has been said regarding its definition or how it is to be distinguished from other inversion types. In this chapter, I propose a definition of inversion and discuss the syntactic types of inversion that occur. 3 Inversion is defined so as to exclude related phenomena such as subject-auxiliary inversion, preposing, and there-insertion, which are discussed below. It should also be noted that, although similar phenomena occur in other languages, this study will be limited to a discussion of English inversion.