영어의 주어-동사 도치구문에 관한 연구

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the subject-verb inversion structures in English and to show the type of inversion and the reasons for inversion and the functions of inversion by examining studies of this subject suggested by linguistics. To fulfill the purpose, the study is organized as follows: Following the introduction, chapter 2 deals with the concept and the reasons of inversion. An inversion structure can be defined as a structure in which the predicate verb or the main verb comes before the subject. Usually, the subject - verb inversion is divided into two types: Subject-verb inversion come from the fronting of prepositional phrases, subjective complements, objects and adverbial phrases. About the fronting of prepositional phrases, the prepositional phrases are locative and directional prepositional phrases and the verbs must be the intransitive verbs, such as be, sit, stand, lie, and so on, which have the meaning of existence. The fronting of subjective complements, such as adjectives, participles, to-infinitive and prepositional phrases, causes the subject-verb inversion. And the fronting of objects can also make the inversion possible. The preposing of negatives, such as seldom, rarely, scarcely, and emphatic words like such, bitterly, well, many a , cause the inversion. The sentences led by so, neither or nor can cause the inversion as well. The inversion can also be caused by there-construction. In chapter 3, the pragmatic characteristics are discussed. In communication, writers/speakers choose the most suitable information structure to convey information most effectively and readers/hearers interpret it most precisely according to contexts. Topic and focus play important roles in the information structure. They also cause the inversion. Topicalization and focalization of certain constituents are factors to cause the inversion. Thesis is summarized and concluded in chapter 4.