Chapter XIX

THE CONJUNCTION

Taking up the definition of a conjunction given above in cur general survey of parts of speech, we must first of all, just as we have done with prepositions, consider the question of the meaning of conjunctions. Many authors, in defining a conjunction, limit themselves to indicating that they serve to connect words (or parts of the sentence) and clauses. ¹ This would seem to imply that conjunctions have no meaning of their own, that is, that they do not themselves express any phenomena of the extralinguistic world. This is untenable, as may be very easily shown by the simplest examples. Compare, for instance, the two sentences, He came because it was late, and He came though it was late. The different conjunctions obviously express different real relations between two extralinguistic phenomena: his coming and its being late. The causal connection between them exists outside the language, and so does the concessive relation expressed in the latter of the two sentences. There is no difference whatever in the grammatical structure of the two sentences: the difference lies only in the meanings of the two conjunctions. The same observation can be made on comparing the two sentences, We will come to see you before he comes back, and We will come to see you after he comes back, and also in a number of other cases. All this goes to prove that every conjunction has its own meaning, expressing some connection or other existing between phenomena in extralinguistic reality.

So far our reasoning and our conclusions have been the same as in the case of prepositions. Now, however, comes a point in which conjunctions are different from prepositions. When discussing prepositions, we noted that in a certain number of cases the use of a given preposition is predicted by the preceding word: thus the verb depend can only be followed by the preposition on (or upon), the adjective characteristic only by the preposition of, etc. In such cases the preposition has no meaning of its own. Conjunctions in this respect are entirely different. The use of a conjunction is never predicted by any preceding word. We will no longer inquire into the meanings of conjunctions, as this is a question of lexicology rather than grammar.

In studying the syntactical functions of conjunctions, we have, just as with prepositions, to distinguish between two levels — that of phrases and that of sentences.

On the phrase level it must be said that conjunctions connect words and phrases. It is the so-called co-ordinating conjunctions that are found here, and only very rarely subordinating ones.

¹ See, for example, Грамматика русского языка, т. I, стр. 665.

Prepositions and Conjunctions 157

On the sentence level it must be said that conjunctions connect clauses (of different kinds). Here we find both so-called co-ordinating and so-called subordinating conjunctions.

The division of conjunctions into co-ordinating and subordinating is one that can hardly be dealt with outside syntax: co-ordinating conjunctions imply co-ordination of clauses, and subordinating conjunctions imply subordination of clauses. So we shall have to look again into this question when we come to syntax. ¹ Here it will be sufficient to say that there is nothing in the conjunction itself to show whether it is co-ordinating or subordinating, and even in the structure of the clauses there is no unmistakable sign of this (as is the case, for instance, with word order in Modern German).

Conjunctions can sometimes lose their connecting function, as is the case with the conjunction if in sentences expressing wish, like the following: If only she might play the question loud enough to reach the ears of this Paul Steitler. (BUECHNER) Probably we shall have to say that if here is no longer a conjunction but a particle. We will consider such cases in Syntax as well.²

PREPOSITIONS AND CONJUNCTIONS

In comparing prepositions with co-ordinating and subordinating conjunctions we cannot fail to notice that while prepositions have nothing in common with co-ordinating conjunctions, some prepositions are very close in meaning to subordinating conjunctions, and in some cases a preposition and a subordinating conjunction sound exactly the same. As examples of similarity in meaning we may give, for instance, such phrases and clauses: during his illness = while he was ill', examples of complete identity in meaning and sound are the words before, after, since.

All this presents us with intricate problems. On the one hand, it seems doubtful whether we are right in uniting subordinating conjunctions (that is, words like when, as, after, before, since) together with co-ordinating conjunctions (that is, words like and, but, or) into one part of speech and separating them from prepositions (that is, words like of, from, after, before, since), with which they obviously have much more in common. On the other hand, it remains doubtful how we should treat the relations between the preposition after and the conjunction after (and similarly, before and since). None of the treatments so far proposed seems satisfactory.

One way is to say, there is the word after, which may function both as a preposition and as a conjunction. But then the question

¹ See below, p. 315 ff.

² See below, Chapter XXXVII, p. 293 ff,

The Conjunctions

arises, what part of speech is after? If it can only function as a preposition and as a conjunction, this would mean that it is neither the one nor the other.

Another way is to say that after the preposition and after the conjunction are homonyms. This will not do either, since homonymy, by definition, supposes complete difference of meaning, as between saw 'instrument for sawing' and saw 'old saying', whereas the meaning of after the preposition and after the conjunction is absolutely the same.

These considerations apply as well to the words before and since, and here the question is further complicated by the fact that they can also be adverbs. ¹

The difficulty with the word after would be overcome if we were to unite prepositions and conjunctions into one part of speech (as hinted above, p. 33), which would then have to be given a new name. The difference between what we now call the preposition after and the conjunction would then be reduced to different syntactical uses of one word. But the difficulty with the adverbs and preposition-conjunctions before and since would not be solved by this: it would not do to say that an adverb and a word uniting the qualities of preposition and conjunction are the same word.

A fully convincing solution of this problem has yet to be found.

As to the relation between prepositions, co-ordinating conjunctions, and subordinating conjunctions, it must be said that on the ground of the peculiarities which have been pointed out a completely different treatment of the three types of words is possible. An idea to this effect was put forward by the French scholar L. Tesnière in a book on general principles of syntax. Tesnière classes what are usually called co-ordinating conjunctions as a type for itself: he calls them "jonctifs" (that is, junctives), whereas prepositions and what we call subordinating conjunctions come together under the name of "translatifs" (translatives) and are distinguished from each other as subclasses of this large class: prepositions are called "translatifs, premier degré" (translatives, first degree) and subordinating conjunctions, "translatifs, second degré" (second degree).² This is quite natural in a book on syntax, in which things are looked at from a syntactical angle and words classified according to their functions in the sentence.

It should also be noted that the difference between prepositions and conjunctions is much less pronounced in Modern English than in Russian, where prepositions are closely connected with cases, while conjunctions have nothing whatever to do with them. In English, with its almost complete absence of cases, this difference be-

¹ After is also an adverb in the phrase ever alter.

² L, Tesnière, Elements de syntaxe structural, 1959, pp. 386—387,

Prepositions and Conjunctions. 159

tween prepositions and conjunctions is very much obliterated. While in Russian the substitution of a conjunction for a preposition makes jt necessary to change the case of the following noun, in English 00 such change is necessary or, indeed, possible. So the distinction between preposition and conjunction is based here only on semantic criteria and, also, on the use of these words in other contexts, where they are not interchangeable.

In discussing prepositions, we noted that there are in English, as well as in Russian and in other languages, certain phrases which cannot be termed prepositions, since they are not words, but which are similar to prepositions in meaning and in syntactical function. The same is true of conjunctions. A certain number of phrases (consisting of two or three words) are similar in meaning and in function to conjunctions. Among them we can quote such phrases as in order that, as soon as, as long as, notwithstanding that, etc. Just as prepositional phrases, these will be analysed in a special chapter in Syntax (see p. 179 ff.).

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