Rethinking the coordinate-subordinate dichotomy: Interpersonal grammar and the analysis of adverbial clauses in English (review)

This book advocates a revision of the traditional subordinate-coordinate distinction, used in most descriptive grammars of complex sentences. According to the standard view, clauses in coordinate structures have the same syntactic status, while in subordinating constructions one clause is dependent on the other (or embedded in it). Verstraete constructs a multidimensional and well-documented argument that adds much complexity to the issue, and opens a number of new questions regarding the functional and semantic motivation for syntactic categories. The framework constructed in the book builds on a broad base of concepts inspired by functional linguistics, speech act theory, and construction grammar. The emergent theoretical standpoint is referred to as interpersonal grammar—a model of language using various components of the speaker’s involvement as the basis for formal and functional choices (partly inspired by work by Halliday (1994) and McGregor (1997)).

The proposed new classification is based on a large corpus of attested data. It relies on the set of parameters assumed, which jointly account for subtle semantic and usage-related distinctions, while also explaining a wide range of usage. V applies the framework to adverbial clauses (primarily in English, but also German and Dutch), and then extends the scope of application to other languages (such as Russian or Belhare). The entire discussion is well documented with examples; the text is clear and well structured, with a number of summaries and tables that present interim conclusions in an easily accessible form.

The framework being developed views adverbial clause-combining options in terms of parameters of interpersonal grammar. Three primary parameters are modality, speech function, and scope, as they jointly cover various aspects of the speaker’s involvement. They regulate interpersonal factors such as the speaker’s attitude toward the propositional content (modality), acceptance or transfer of responsibility for that attitude (speech function), and the demarcation of the domain over which the attitude holds (scope). The elaboration of the parameters in Part 1 is the core of the book, even though the analysis focuses on simple sentences, because the basis of the framework is established here in ways that affect all the ensuing discussion.

An interesting idea postulated in Part 1, ‘Parameters of interpersonal grammar in the simple clause’, is that the illocutionary force of an utterance (whether described as a direct or an indirect speech act) relies on the combined parameters of modality and speech function—the latter are prerequisites not only for the emergence of illocutionary force but also participate in the determination of the actual force of the utterance, regardless of its social specificity. Since speech function is defined as declarative or interrogative only, however, the range of illocutionary forces available does not include imperative forms. Imperatives are claimed to represent a specialized construction that marks the speaker’s deontic commitment; they are thus contrasted with indicative sentences, which depend compositionally on the parameters of modality and speech function. As a consequence of this choice, imperatives are absent from V’s discussion of clause-combining patterns (except for brief mentions in the final chapters). But if illocutionary force relies on speech function, and imperatives do not have one, then it is not clear how the illocutionary force of imperatives arises, beyond pure commitment to deontic modality in the clearest cases of directive speech acts. The emergence of illocutionary force and the role of imperatives in clause combining are two issues that perhaps could have been discussed in more detail, though the already substantial length of the book may have precluded such an elaboration.

The third parameter, that of focus and scope, is also treated as an interpersonal feature, because the interpersonal resources can then be discussed as either within the scope of the clause or outside of it. In other words, the parameter allows one to trace the deployment of interpersonal properties in clause combining as covering a narrower or...