Contextual Constraints on Placement of Conjunctives within a Sentence: Pedagogical Implications for EFL Learners

Abstract

Conjunctives are usually assumed to be cohesive devices that are readily moveable to different places within a sentence (for example, Halliday and Matthiessen 2004; Thompson 2004). However, this assumption is based on observations about frequent profiles of all conjunctives across all types of sentences. No study has attempted a systematic analysis of the occurrences of particular conjunctives in particular types of sentences to examine the extent to which the moveability of those conjunctives to their frequent places in a sentence is possible; nor, to the best of my knowledge, has any study attempted to exactly identify the types of contextual factors that may dictate the appropriate placements of a conjunctive.  The present study attempts to accomplish a systematic analysis of the occurrences of particular conjunctives in particular types of sentences to examine the extent to which the moveability of those conjunctives to their frequent places in a sentence is possible. It aims to identify the types of contextual factors that may dictate the appropriate placements of a conjunctive. It also aims to find out the pedagogical implications for EFL learners on the basis of the results, the present paper argues that the moveability and the placement of a conjunctive within a sentence appear to be more often than not restricted and determined by certain syntactic and/or pragmatic constraints. The paper also argues that it is such constraints that ESL/EFL learners need to be aware of should they wish to choose the appropriate placement of a conjunctive within a sentence in a manner that is felicitous and conforms to the expectations of the academic community.