Backward Shift in English

Backward Shift in English: A Deep Dive for English Majors

Backward shift, also known as rightward movement or shifting to the right, is a syntactic phenomenon where a constituent appears to move rightward from its canonical position in a sentence. While seemingly counterintuitive, this movement serves various functions, including focus, information structure management, and resolving structural ambiguities.

Let's delve into the intricacies of backward shift, exploring its motivations, types, and theoretical implications, all while grounding our discussion in reputable scholarly sources.

1. Motivations for Backward Shift

• Information Structure: Often, backward shift is motivated by information structure considerations. Speakers tend to place new or important information towards the end of a sentence for emphasis. This is known as end-focus.
  • Example: "I gave to my sister the book." (new information: recipient)
• Heavy NP Shift: Long or complex noun phrases (NPs) tend to be shifted rightward to avoid processing difficulty. This is known as heavy NP shift.
  • Example: "I gave to Mary the book that I bought yesterday at the bookstore on the corner."
• Avoiding Ambiguity: Sometimes, backward shift helps to disambiguate sentences by clarifying the relationships between constituents.
• Extraposition: This involves moving a clause to the end of the sentence, often to improve information flow and processing.
  • Example: "It is important that we finish this project on time."

 

• Subject Delay: In certain constructions, the subject can be delayed to a position after the verb. This often occurs with existential "there" constructions or with verbs like "seem," "appear," and "happen."
  • Example: "There arrived a mysterious stranger at the inn."

3. Theoretical Implications

Backward shift challenges traditional phrase structure rules, which typically assume a fixed word order. To account for this phenomenon, various theoretical frameworks have been proposed:

• Transformational Grammar: This approach posits that backward shift involves movement of a constituent from its underlying position to a surface position. This movement is governed by specific rules and constraints.
• Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG): LFG proposes that backward shift involves assigning a constituent to a different grammatical function without actual movement.
• Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG): HPSG analyzes backward shift as a result of flexible constraints on word order and grammatical relations.

4. Scholarly Sources

• The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Huddleston & Pullum, 2002): This comprehensive grammar provides a detailed analysis of heavy NP shift and extraposition, discussing their syntactic properties and information structure implications.
• A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (Quirk et al., 1985): This classic grammar offers a thorough overview of various types of backward shift, including PP shift and subject delay.
• Syntactic Theory: A Formal Introduction (Adger, 2003): This textbook provides a formal account of backward shift within the framework of transformational grammar, discussing movement rules and constraints.
• The Syntax of Natural Language (Carnie, 2013): This book explores backward shift from a cross-linguistic perspective, examining how different languages employ this phenomenon and its theoretical implications.
• Information Structure and Sentence Form (Lambrecht, 1994): This work delves into the relationship between information structure and word order, highlighting the role of backward shift in achieving end-focus and managing information flow.

5. Further Considerations

• Register and Style: Backward shift can be more common in formal or written registers. In informal speech, simpler word order is often preferred.
• Dialectal Variation: The frequency and types of backward shift can vary across different dialects of English.
• Psycholinguistic Factors: Processing constraints and cognitive factors also play a role in backward shift.

By understanding the motivations, types, and theoretical implications of backward shift, English majors can gain a deeper appreciation for the complexities of English syntax and its interface with information structure and discourse.