Stashko H. Female Images in American Song Folklore: Linguostylistic and Linguoculturological Aspects

This thesis focuses on the study of structural and functional characteristics of appositive constructions in the English language of the 7th – 17th centuries. Appositive constructions have been analysed within the framework of X'-theory of generative grammar and presented as structural models of two basic types: noun phrase – noun / conjunction phrase, noun phrase – appositive clause. During the 7th – 17th centuries the contact position of appositives within the construction becomes more and more prevailing over the distant one. The research reveals that the structure of appositive constructions becomes less complicated and the number of lexical categories representing appositives reduces. Appositive constructions in the Middle and Early Modern English language show a greater variety of syntactic functions than those in the Old English language.