Plotkina M. The Syntax of Composite Sentences in Jane Austen’s Novels: Structural and Functional Aspects

Оbject – composite sentences (compound, complex, complex-compound, complex syntactic whole) in J. Austen’s novels. Aim – complex investigation of structural and functional characteristics of the composite sentences in J. Austen’s novels. Methods: inductive, deductive, total selection of syntactic units, elements of quantitative analysis, transformational, linguistic description. Theoretical and practical results: the work widens the idea of the state of development of literary English in the end of XVIII – the beginning of the XIX c.; мethods of composite sentence analysis suggested is grounded on the fundamentals of generative grammar and contributes to deeper understanding of mechanisms of their formation as well as the role in realization of author’s intention; the results of the investigation of composite sentence as the distributional field for developing communicative dynamism are the contribution to the Functional Sentence Perspective theory; the results of the research work can be used in the courses of History of English (chapter “Syntax”), Theoretical Grammar (chapters “Syntax”, “Pragmatics of the Sentence”), in special course “Generativism as a Methodological Base for Modern Linguistic Investigations”, in writing students’ and postgraduates’ research works. Novelty: it is the first complex investigation of syntax of J. Austen’s works in terms of Generative Grammar and on basis of general principles of Functional Sentence Perspective theory. The composite sentence paradigm in writer’s novels in first built, its characteristics with a glance of typical features of the author’s syntax is given, the structural models of the composite sentences are represented as well as the mechanism of their formation. Composite sentence is first viewed as immediate relevant situational context for realization of communicative dynamism and functional perspective; outlined the peculiarities of functioning of the composite sentence with direct speech component. Sphere of use: higher educational institutions.