Semenenko G. Adverbial Clauses of Reason in Old English: Structure and Functioning.

The dissertation focuses on the analysis of structural and functional peculiarities of Old English adverbial clauses of reason. The key markers of hypotaxis are polysemantic subjunctions, which do not explicitly specify the type of adverbial clauses they introduce. Opacity of subjunctions results in the absence of a clear distinction between clauses of reason, time, comparison and purpose. Additional criteria of subordination, such as word-order, subjunctive mood and clause-order, are used to minimize the syntactic ambiguity between the main and subordinate clause status. These criteria, although characteristic of some subordinate clauses, are not obligatory for the type as a whole. Absolute participial construction is the only non-finite clause that functions as a syntactic synonym of the finite adverbial clause of reason in Old English.