Right-dislocation in English

Javier Perez Guerra (jperez@uvigo.es)
Wed, 27 Nov 1996 18:18:30 +0000 (WET)

Dear colleagues of CORPORA,

I would be grateful if any contributor could help me with the
following query:

It is generally assumed in the literature that
right-dislocation decreases in the history of the English
language. By 'right-dislocation' I understand that linguistic
phenomenon by means of which a certain constituent is detached from
the orthodox structure of the clause to a peripheral right position,
normally separated by means of a comma in writing or by a
suprasegmental break in spoken language. Such a right-dislocated
constituent is normally associated (either syntactically or
pragmatically) to another one within the clause. A typical example
would be:
That's what I love, bananas.
As already pointed out, I assume that right-dislocated segments tend
to be integrated within clause structure (subcategorisation frame)
and that right-dislocation is relegated to spoken careless language.
Do you agree with that? Has anybody got data corroborating such a
"feeling" (or maybe the opposite direction)?
If you send your answers directly to jperez@uvigo.es, I shall post a
summary of the replies on the list. Thanks in advance.

Javier Perez-Guerra
Faculty of Arts
University of Vigo, Spain
jperez@uvigo.es