Introduction

Reference to space and time seem very basic to the process of relating things and situations to each other; according to Chafe ‘consciousness is unable to function without such an orientation’ so ‘it is typical for a speaker to begin representing a remembered topic with mention of space [and] time’ (1994: 202). The concepts of space and time are obviously related, not just in the concept of ‘setting’, but also on a logical level; what exists in space also exists in time (see Givón 1979: 314).

Space and time adjuncts are by far the most frequently occurring adjunct types. The present chapter discusses semantic features of space and time adjuncts more thoroughly than chapter 2, and also looks into the occurrence of different types of space and time adjuncts in relation to process type and text type. The adjuncts are further discussed in terms of discourse functions beyond complementing a verb or modifying a clause, i.e. expressing interpersonal and textual meanings in addition to their basic function of expressing the experiential meanings of space and time.

Space adjuncts

Introduction

Space adjuncts constitute the most frequent type of adjunct in the material for the present study as well as for other quantitative studies of adverbials (e.g. Quirk et al. 1985, Biber et al. 1999, Tottie 1984, Matthiessen 1999). For reasons of frequency alone it might thus be natural to discuss space adverbials before the other types. Moreover, there is a certain ‘basicness’ about space adverbials.