A functional typology of English when-clauses

Abstract

This paper offers a typology of English when-clauses (WCs) on the basis of their semantic, syntactic and functional characteristics. It distinguishes six major classes of dependent WCs: WCs used as indirect questions, relative clauses, free relative clauses in nominal function, adverbial WCs, narrative WCs and atemporal WCs. A further subciassification of these reveals many different categories and uses. All of these are illustrated lavishly, mostly with the help of attested examples. It is also shown that the various categories differ as regards the use of tense forms: some WCs can use the future tense auxiliary and/or combine with a head clause in the present tense or present perfect, whereas other WCs do not allow this.