Adverbials as semantic and pragmatic operators : a functional approach to the analysis of English fiction language

Abstract: Adverbials as Semantic and Pragmatic Operators. A Functional Approach to the Analysis of English Fiction Language investigates the function and use of some English adverbials as tools for creating literary meaning and effect. Adverbials function as deictic markers, operating on salient fields of our cognition, for example time, space and circumstance, the deictic expressions of which can be mapped onto other, more abstract fields such as narrative deixis and discourse deixis. The study is divided into two parts. Part I classifies adverbials into two functional categories, separated by semantic and pragmatic differences, with the concept of scalability recognised as a basic property for adverbials. The analytic tools provided in Part I are in Part II used for analysing the narrative structure of The Force of Circumstance, by Somerset Maugham. Particular attention is paid to the role of temporal and spatial adverbials and sentence adverbials in the communication between reader, text and writer.