Chapter 5. English rationale since and a reassessment of the typology of adverbial clauses

Abstract

This chapter examines the syntactic and semantic properties of English causal adverbial clauses, starting from the fact that the conjunctions since and as can both introduce either a temporal clause or a rationale clause. Where relevant, the material is supplemented with data from Dutch causal adverbial clauses, focusing on the interaction with the syntax of Verb Second. It is shown that the bipartite distinction between ‘central’ adverbial clauses and ‘peripheral’ adverbial clauses (Haegeman 1984a, 1991/2009, a.o.) should be reconsidered. Frey’s (2016, 2018) ternary distinction is adopted, which differentiates between central adverbial clauses (CACs) and peripheral adverbial clauses (PACs), both regarded as syntactically integrated, and non-integrated clauses. Evidence is provided for Frey’s hypothesis that PACs are related to JudgementP (Krifka 2017).