Journal of Languages and Translation
Volume 2, Numéro 2, Pages 66-81
2022-07-01

Grammatical Exclusivity In English Communication Situations; The Case Of Adjective “only” Misplaced As Adverb

Authors : Olatunji Samson . Robbin Anjola .

Abstract

There is a strong connection between syntactic structures and the meanings they generate in the English language. A word’s syntactic environment determines its grammatical and communicative name and function. Therefore, the word “only” can be an adjective or an adverb, depending on what word it is placed near. The current survey investigated the extent and frequency of misplacement of what is meant to be a focusing exclusive adjective “only” in sentences as an adverb and its communicative consequences. A total of 51 instances of such misplacement were obtained through accidental sampling. Syntactic-semantic analyses of 20 of them are presented. Also, the ability of 200 English speakers to identify the errors of misplacement and their semantic disruption was tested. The findings show that the misplacement defies racial boundaries and, strangely, results in no communication breakdown.

Keywords

Adjectives ; Adverbs ; Focus exclusive ; grammatical infelicity ; semantics ; linguistic variables