Position ‘A’ and other medial positions

The placement of sentential adverbs in a position other than clause-final (F) or clause-initial (I) can best be illustrated in terms of clauses that include a long auxiliary, such as:

(20) The petitioners 0 would 1 have 2 been 3 dealt with in strict sequence

(21) John 0 must 1 have 2 been 3 weeding the garden (and so he didn’t hear when you rang the front doorbell)

If a sentential adverb such as normally were included in (20), its preferred position would be 1, after the first word of the auxiliary: The petitioners would normally have been dealt with in strict sequence. As the language is used in informal conversation, one sometimes hears a sentential adverb located later—after the second word of the auxiliary, position 2, or even after the third word, position 3; these sound progressively less good to native-speaker ears. Similarly, if sentential adverb also were inserted into (21), the sentence would be judged as most felicitous with the adverb at position 1, less so at position 2, and still less so at 3. Note that none of these variant positions is likely to involve any difference in stress or in meaning.

There is a further possibility, which is to place a sentential adverb at position 0, before the first word of the auxiliary. This generally involves contrastive stress on the first word of the auxiliary:

(20a) The petitioners normally ’would have been dealt with in strict sequence

(21a) John also ’must have been weeding the garden

That is, placing of a sentential adverb before the auxiliary entails contrastive focus on would in (20a), and on must in (21a).

It is instructive to compare the clause-internal placement of sentential adverbs with the placement of contrastive clausal linkers—sometimes also called ‘adverbs’ but with quite different properties from adverbs as discussed here—such as however, moreover, nevertheless, therefore, accordingly, on the other hand, at all events, and still (a different item from sentential adverb still). These serve to link two clauses and can be placed at the end or—more typically—at the beginning of the second clause, as in:

(22a) John had voted Labour; however, his brother had voted Conservative

Now a contrastive linker such as however can alternatively be placed between the subject NP and the auxiliary, as in (22b), or after the first word of the auxiliary, as in (22c). Note that in each instance the linker has comma intonation:

(22b) John had voted Labour; his ’brother, however, had voted Conservative

(22c) John had voted Labour; his brother ’had, however, voted Conservative

When a contrastive linker is placed within the clause, the constituent immediately preceding it is accorded contrastive stress—(his) brother in (22b) and had in (22c). (This is similar to the behavior of parentheticals) In (22b) there is focus on what the brother did on this occasion, in contrast to what John did; in (22c) there is focus on the ‘previous’ aspect of the clause, realized through had.

We can note that the positioning of a contrastive linker after the subject is only possible if the two clauses have different subjects, which can be contrasted. Consider:

(23a) John had said he was going to vote Labour; he ’had, however, voted Conservative

It is not possible to move the contrastive linker however to the position after he, since he is coreferential with the subject of the first clause, John, and cannot be contrasted with it. That is, it is not permissible to say (with he referring back to John):

(23b) *John had said he was going to vote Labour; ’he, however, had voted Conservative

Sentential adverbs and contrastive clause linkers can both be placed either between subject and the first word of the auxiliary or after the first word of the auxiliary. There are, however, clear differences between them:

(i) Sentential adverbs are prototypically placed after the first word of the auxiliary, position A; there is then no contrastive stress within the clause. Alternatively, they can occur between subject and auxiliary but then the FOLLOWING word (the first word of the auxiliary) bears contrastive stress. When a contrastive clause linker is placed within the clause there must always be contrastive stress on the PRECEDING word. Compare (24a– b), involving a sentential adverb, with (25a–b), which include a clause linker.

(24a) Her brother had definitely voted Conservative

(24b) Her brother definitely ’had voted Conservative

(25a) Her ’brother, however, had voted Conservative

(25b) Her brother ’had, however, voted Conservative

(ii) A contrastive clause linker always has comma intonation, setting it oV from the remainder of the clause. Most sentential adverbs never take comma intonation when in position A; some may optionally do so when positioned between subject and auxiliary, as in (24b).

There is a variant on the basic positioning of a sentential adverb, which applies in the presence of ellipsis. Consider a clause with normal placement of sentential adverbs never and always at position A within its clauses:

(26a) Mary has never voted Labour but I have always voted Labour

The repeated voted Labour can be omitted from the second clause. How-ever, we cannot have a sentence ending * . . . but I have always. There are two alternatives. One is to include do so in place of voted Labour, giving:

(26b) Mary has never voted Labour but I have always done so

The other is to simply move always to a position before the first word of the auxiliary, giving:

(26c) Mary has never voted Labour but I always have

We can now add a rider to the description of position A given near the beginning: when everything after the first word of the auxiliary is ellipsed, a sentential adverb may precede the first word of the auxiliary.

When an English sentence which lacks an auxiliary is made into a polar question, the dummy element do (which takes the tense inflection) is included before the subject, as in John ran and Did John run? Interestingly, no adverb or contrastive clause linker can intervene between do and the following subject. Neither can the unreduced negator not intervene; one may say Did John not come? but not *Did not John come? However, when not is reduced to be clitic -n’t, then it attaches to the initial do form; for example, Didn’t John come?

Sentences involving a contrastive clause linker often also include do, but this is simply a consequence of the fact that such a linker has contrastive function, and this do has a contrastive role. For example, in His brother ’did, however, vote Conservative, the linker however follows do, which takes stress (as it always does when used in contrastive function). This is a rather different matter from the inclusion of do in a polar question or with not, mentioned in the last paragraph.