Functional potential of grammatical variability in a declarative simple sentence (in English fiction of 1999–2015)

Abstract

Grammatical variability is rather well researched in linguistic theory, moreover it is well described in textbooks on English theoretical grammar. However, it is to be remarked that research within the functional and semantic approach, describing the implications which are generated with sentence structural pattern modification, is far from being exhaustive so far. Defining the nature and implications of grammatical variability and describing the routs of the basic sentence pattern modifications, there also arises the issue of determining the structural minimum for constituting the system of the basic sentence structure patterns. In the article present the authors attempt at defining and describing semantic, pragmatic, stylistic implications induced by the minimum simple sentence structure pattern modifications which have been studied in grammar theory. The relevance of the article is perceived as extending the paradigm frames of grammar and applying various functional issues to the matter under study. The research embraces the matter of three modern works of fiction, written in English (A Darker Shade of Magic, V. E. Schwab, 2015; Hannibal, T. Harris, 1999; Capital, J. Lanchester, 2013), which have not been sufficiently studied yet. This also determines the research as novel and relevant, as well as suggests further research into different means of the author’s individual style of fiction. Theoretically, the article dwells upon such issues as the sentence structural minimum, sentence pattern, structural sentence scheme, stereotypical conventional sentence structure meaning, as well as grammatical transformation. The research aims at defining the implications which arise following the transformation of the simple sentence minimum structural pattern.