7. Subordination in Cognitive grammar

Langacker, Ronald W.

doi:10.1075/celcr.11.10lan

In:Asymmetric Events
Edited by Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk
[Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research 11] 2008
► pp. 137–149

Get fulltext from our e-platform

Download Book PDF

7. Subordination in Cognitive grammar

Ronald W. Langacker | University of California, San Diego

Published online: 15 May 2008

https://doi.org/10.1075/celcr.11.10lan

This paper reexamines the treatment of subordination in Cognitive Grammar. Subordination is not susceptible to simple, categorical description. Understanding it requires the elucidation of numerous factors, with respect to which one can describe its many types, distinguish them from one another, and properly relate them to other phenomena. Among the relevant factors are asymmetries in prominence, including profiling, trajector/landmark organization, and status as the important content in a discourse. Special attention is devoted to how these interact with limited “windows of attention” in an integrated account of grammar and dynamic processing.

Keywords: acquisition, adverbial clause, analyzability, attention, attentional frame, complement clause, constituency, discourse, grounding, intonation units, mental spaces, nominal/finite clause, processing, profiling, relative clause, subordination, trajector/landmark

Cited by (12)

Cited by 12 other publications

Order by:

Abraham, Werner

2020. Discourse particles in thetic judgments, in dependent sentences, and in non-finite phrases. In Information-structural perspectives on discourse particles [Studies in Language Companion Series, 213], ► pp. 195 ff.

Li, Wendan

2016. The many faces of adverbial margins. Chinese Language and Discourse. An International and Interdisciplinary Journal 7:1 ► pp. 23 ff.

Hampe, Beate

2015. Syntax from and for Discourse: Adverbial Clauses as Item-Specific Constructions in Spontaneous Spoken English. Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik 63:3 ► pp. 295 ff.

Cristofaro, Sonia

2014. Is there really a syntactic category of subordination?. In Contexts of Subordination [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 249], ► pp. 73 ff.

Herlin, Ilona, Jyrki Kalliokoski & Laura Visapää

2014. Introduction. In Contexts of Subordination [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 249], ► pp. 1 ff.

Jääskeläinen, Anni

2014. Rhetorical use of some Finnish conjunctions in constructions and the scope of subordination. In Contexts of Subordination [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 249], ► pp. 93 ff.

Langacker, Ronald W.

2014. Subordination in a dynamic account of grammar. In Contexts of Subordination [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 249], ► pp. 17 ff.

Nir, Bracha

2014. Clause combining across grammars. Constructions and Frames 6:2 ► pp. 232 ff.

Peltola, Rea

2014. Subordination in purpose clauses. In Contexts of Subordination [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 249], ► pp. 125 ff.

Peltola, Rea

2021. Unfolding constructions. In Modality and Diachronic Construction Grammar [Constructional Approaches to Language, 32], ► pp. 149 ff.

Vilkuna, Maria

2014. More subordinate?. In Contexts of Subordination [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 249], ► pp. 173 ff.

Visapää, Laura

2014. On the contextual conceptualization of joka relative clauses in Finnish. In Contexts of Subordination [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 249], ► pp. 147 ff.

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.