Pragmatic Features of Appositions in English

1. Introduction

In modern linguistics, the study of syntactic units not only from a structural perspective, but also from a functional and pragmatic perspective is of particular relevance. In this regard, appositions do not only provide explanatory information within a sentence, but also have pragmatic properties such as regulating the flow of information in a speech act, directing attention, and specifying the topic. The pragmatic processing of appositions varies depending on the speaker's intention, context, and purpose of communication. Through these structures, the speaker gains the opportunity to emphasize certain information, make a tacit assessment, or refer to previously known knowledge about the topic. The pragmatics of appositions in English mainly covers how and for what purpose we present additional information in speech and writing. This article analyzes the pragmatic properties of apposition constructions, examines how they are used in various communicative situations, and how they affect information relations between the listener and the speaker.                                            

2. Discussion and results.

Appositions are a grammatical tool that allows us to express a sentence more clearly and more emphatic. When writing sentences or any text, care should be taken to make them clearer, readable, and informative so that everyone can understand them more clearly. (Modern Azerbaijani Language, 1981).

For example: Newton made his three great discoveries – the discoveries of the branches of Mathematics, the nature of white light and the law of gravitation. The combination of the discoveries of the branches of Mathematics, the nature of white light and the law of gravitation used in this example is an apposition to the word discoveries, and by using this apposition, we provide the reader with more detailed information about Newton's discoveries. The fact that these appositions and apposition combinations express clearer and more emphatic information in sentences helps the reader understand the essence of the sentences. An apposition is a noun or a noun combination that clarifies, explains, describes, or, in other words, gives it a new name.                

For example: In the sentence “My son Samir is a student.”, the word Samir is an apposition expressed by a noun. This suffix determines that the last word is Samir, and both words, that is, both the last and the word Samir, express the same person. Substitutions are used so that a word expressed by a certain noun or pronoun can be replaced either by an easier word or by another word with the same meaning.                                                                      

For example: Jane got a job as a secretary for Lowis, a Kenyan scientist, who appreciated her careful way of working and her interest in animals.Substitutions are used for various purposes. Substitutions can also be used to emphasize a word and bring it to clearer attention. By repeating the noun given at the beginning of the sentence or a certain part of the sentence, we emphasize that we think something is important.                                                             

For example: The sun, the clear bright sun, was rising in the morning behind the mountains. In the given example, if we do not use the suffix, that is, the word the clear bright sun, the meaning of the sentence will not be affected. However, when we use the suffix, the meaning of the sentence becomes more noticeable and it is indicated that the clear, bright sun is rising behind the mountains. This further increases the impact of the sentence.        

Appositions have the properties of the member to which they belong and carry their character. In other words, appositions are an additional subject next to the subject, an additional completeness next to the complement, and an additional adverb next to the adverb. That is why appositions cannot occupy a special place among the members of the sentence. There is no general idea about appositions in modern English. Thus, some linguists consider additions to be a type of definition, while others consider them to be a separate, independent member of the sentence. O. Musayev gives the following definition of appositions in English: “A word or word combination that provides additional information about this or that member in a sentence, explaining it, is called an addition.” (Musayev O,1996). O. Musayev is one of those linguists who also considers appositions to be a separate member of the sentence. He notes that appositions differ from appositions in some of their characteristics. “The main one is that while an addition is expressed by any main part of speech existing in the language, an apposition is almost always expressed by a noun, provides additional information about the noun to which it belongs, clarifies it.” (Musayev O,1996).

For example: Isaac Newton, one of the greatest scientists of all times, was born in 1642 in England. In this example, the word one of the greatest scientists of all times is an apposition to the word Isaac Newton. Because that apposition provides additional information about Isaac Newton, explains him. O. Musayev shows that another feature that distinguishes appositions, especially free appositions, from determinations is their separation by a comma. M.A. Ganshina, considering appositions as a special type of determination, notes that appositions are expressed by a noun, and sometimes by a pronoun, since they denote the same person or thing as the word they determine. M.A. Ganshina shows that there are two types of appositions. (Ganshina M.A, 1964) 1) a detached (loose) appositions 2) non-free appositions (close appositions) T.A. Barabaş considers appositions to be a type of determination in modern English. He emphasizes that appositions are words expressed by a noun that indicate the group, class, or object to which the noun it belongs belongs. These appositions can be titles, military ranks, arts, professions, kinship ties, names, geographical names, etc. Appositions can be used both before and after the words they define. (Barabash, T.A. 1975) E.M. Gordon and L.P. Krylova divide the adverb itself into two groups: close and loose. They show that words used as appositions define the noun, and sometimes the pronoun, and give them certain characteristics. (Gordon E.M., Krylova, 1974).                                                                                                             

For example, let's pay attention to the examples: Once the bright days of summer pass by, a city takes on that sombre garb of grey. I saw the girl out of the window, dancing in the yard.

According to these authors, the appositions bright and sombre in the first sentence are considered close, and the apposition dancing in the yard in the second sentence is considered loose, that is, free appositions. The apposition in the first sentence is considered to be non-free because it is used next to the words it defines. In the second sentence, dancing in the yard, loose, that is, free apposition, is considered to be a free apposition, because it is located at a certain distance from the word it defines.              

These authors note that appositions are expressed by nouns, and these appositions specify the meaning of the noun by providing additional information. In this example, no information is given about the types of appositions, and the authors consider only free appositions as appositions. In our opinion, this way of posing the issue is incorrect. Because free and non-free additions are in opposition to each other. Therefore, it may be more important to study both types of appositions together, in a comparative manner. On the one hand, appositions are used next to the word they belong to and come closer to it, and on the other hand, they are used at a certain distance from the words they belong to, and move away from them, especially. B.L. Kaushanskaya and others consider appositions as a type of definition, while B. Ilyish considers them as separate members of the sentence. Taking all this into account, the following definition of appositions can be given. “A word, phrase, or sentence that provides additional information about or explains this or that sentence member is called an apposition.”( B.Ilyish, 1971).                      

For the first time, Nargiz Nazim gizi Muradova conducted research on the topic of appositions in Azerbaijani English studies. She approached this topic from the perspective of pragmatic-cognitive linguistics, which is relevant in modern times. In her research work, she determines the place of appositions in the system of secondary sentence members and at the same time notes the linguistic and extralinguistic factors that affect their processing. In a sentence, appositions are used in the same function as the member to which they belong. This means that if an apposition is used next to a predicate, it is used as an apposition to the predicate, if it is used next to a complement, it is used as an apposition to the complement, etc. “Therefore, an apposition cannot show itself as a special sentence member and is not included in the list of sentence members as a sixth sentence member.” ( Modern Azerbaijani Language, 1981).                                                

If we separate the apposition from the sentence member on which it depends, then both the apposition and the sentence member cannot express their previous meaning. The meaning completeness, meaning breadth and scope of the sentence decrease. Appositions are used to explain and clarify the sentence member that precedes them. From this we can conclude that there must be a sentence member that needs to be explained and clarified before the apposition. This is evidence that the apposition is dependent on some sentence member. That is why we can say that appositions are not independent sentence members. Appositions depend on some sentence member both in terms of their meaning and the place where they are used in the sentence; appositions are sometimes used in the sentence next to the subject, sometimes the complement, sometimes the apposition, etc. and explain them. N. Muradova shows in her research on apposition that the place of appositions in the language system is also controversial. It is true that some linguists consider appositions to be a special type of definition, while others consider them to be a separate sentence member, but there are also contradictory points between these opinions.     

N. Muradova gives such an example as “I was sick once – typhoid.” She notes that in no case can the word typhoid be considered a type of definition at the same time as an apposition. (Muradova N.N, 2015). We also agree with this idea that in this sentence the word typhoid cannot be considered both apposition and a type of apposition.                                       

These ideas coincide with the ideas of B.A. Ilyish, because B.A. Ilyish also considers such appositions not as a type of appositions, but as a separate sentence member, and therefore such words should be studied as a separate sentence member. If appositions are considered secondary members, then the number of sentence members should be six, not five. ( B.Ilysh) However, the analysis also shows that B.A. Ilyish and O. Musayev have very few supporters on this issue.                                                                 

There are certain allomorphic features between appositions  and attributes. Thus, it is possible to express the same idea both through appositions and attributes. Therefore, in both Russian and English linguistics, appositions  are studied as a type of attributes, but in Azerbaijani there are certain differences between appositions  and attributes. “Being a subgroup of attributes, they are syntactic units with wider syntactic possibilities. Because the means of expression of appositions  are very diverse. An apposition  can be expressed with a word, a word combination, or a separate sentence.” (Muradova.N.N, 2015).                                                                                                                

There is also a certain closeness between an apposition  and attributes. It is possible to express the same idea with the help of both an appositions and attributes. Therefore, in Russian linguistics, an apposition  is explained as a type of attributes. However, even if we take into account that appositions  and attributes are close in meaning in Azerbaijani, we see that there are serious differences between them. [14] The following differences can be seen between appositions  and attributes used in modern English.                             

1) In English, an apposition  can be used both before and after the word it defines. For example: a dancing girl and the girl dancing in the hall.                                         

In the first combination, dancing is used as an attribute, before the word it defines (pre-position), and in the second combination, the word dancing is used after the word it defines (post-position). Appositions are usually used after the word they belong to.

2) In English, there is little, almost no pause between the attribute and the word it defines, but there is a pause between the apposition and the word it belongs to, especially between free appositions. That is why punctuation marks are used between them in writing.

3) In English, if we leave the word that the attribute defines out of the sentence, the meaning of the sentence is broken, but removing the apposition from the sentence does not harm the meaning of the sentence.                                                                 

The author of a great scientific work on appositions  is C.K. Aguna-Farina. According to this scientist, appositions  are undeveloped noun combinations. In non-free appositions, only nouns are used as appositions. That noun defines the noun it belongs to, explaining it from various aspects, and these appositions  are pronounced together with the words they define. When these suffixes are pronounced together with the words they define, there is no pause between them, so no punctuation is used. These suffixes usually indicate a profession, occupation, military title, etc.[ 15 ]                                     

For example:                                                                                             

A British teacher Rowland Hill had the idea of a postage stamp with glue on the back.                                                                                                            

Sometimes a sentence member and the dependent appositions are confused in sentences with homogeneous members. Because both the apposition and the word on which the apposition depends are related to the same sentence member as homogeneous members and answer the same question. Therefore, sometimes the relationship between the attribute and the apposition is confused in sentences with homogeneous members. However, there are isomorphic features between appositions  and homogeneous members. Let's look at the examples:         

1) It was his neighbour, Mr.Smith, well-known in the City.                                           

2) Old Gordon and Oliver were close neighbours and friends.                                      

In the first example given, the word Mr.Smith is used as an apposition of the word neighbour, they mean the same person, and the use of the apposition Mr.Smith explains and makes the word neighbour more specific. In the second sentence, Old Gordon and Oliver are completely different people, these words do not mean the same person, they mean different people, therefore these words are considered homogeneous members. The words neighbors and friends given in that sentence are also considered members of the same gender. Because in this sentence it is mentioned that those people are both neighbours and friends.                                                                                                              

Not all appositions have the same character. One group of appositions is separated from the words it explains and specifies by a certain pause and intonation. Another group of appositions is separated from the words it explains by neither pause nor intonation.  (Musayev O,. 1996).                                                                                                     

In English, appositions have both grammatical and pragmatic functions in speech. From a grammatical point of view, an apposition is another noun or a combination of words that explains or identifies a noun or a group of nouns. From a pragmatic point of view, appositions carry different shades of meaning depending on the purpose of the speech, the intention of the speaker, and the status of the information to be transmitted to the listener. In English, appositions are divided into two groups.

1. Restrictive appositions. The information provided through these appositions is important for the sentence; if these appositions are not used, the idea given remains incomplete and incomplete. For example: My student Sona is going to London tonight. Here, the word Sona is an apposition and defines who my student is. From a pragmatic point of view, this structure introduces new and important information.

2. Non-restrictive appositions. These appositions provide additional information to the sentence, but do not affect the main meaning of the sentence. For example: Sona, my student, is going to London tonight. In this sentence, my student adds already known information to the sentence and has the function of emphasizing and expressing attitude.

In modern English, O. Musayev also shows that there are two types of appositions.

1) loose appositions

2) close appositions

Most of the non-free appositions replace the member they are attached to, and in this case the sentence is not broken. Others cannot replace each other, and when they are replaced with each other, the meaning of the sentence is broken.

The names of the types of appositions are studied in linguistic literature under various terms, namely free and non-free, special and non-special in Azerbaijani, and close and loose, restrictive and non-restrictive, essential and non-essential in English.

Non-restrictive appositions  provide necessary information about the noun or pronoun they explain. For example, let's pay attention to this example:

My brother Jhon is a simple man.

When analyzing this sentence, it becomes clear that I have many brothers, and John is one of them.

Free (non-restrictive) appositions  add information that may not be very necessary. [9, p.396] For example:

My brother, Jhon, is a simple man.

Such appositions  are separated from the words they explain by a comma, and its use in this sentence means that John is my only brother.

Free appositions  are appositions  that, even if omitted from the sentence, make it clear to whom the writer is addressing them. Free appositions  simply provide additional information and are separated from the words they explain by commas.

Appositions can provide additional information about the noun they explain, but they can also be repeated for the sake of emphasis. For example:

He is a mean one, a hard down mean one.

Although the word a hard down mean one is used as an affix in the given sentence, it actually explains the word mean one and strengthens the meaning by being repeated.

In his research, foreign linguist Zlatan Kojadinovich shows that the first person to provide information about non-free affixes, namely in 1952, was W. Li.

In his research, W. Li provided information about free and non-free appositions, and since then this controversial issue is still being studied. This topic has also caused many disputes. This topic was touched upon by linguists before W. Li.

In early grammar books about appositions, for example, in 1928 by H. Poutsma, in 1931 by Kurma V.N. Kurma was given information by O. Yesperson in 1949.

However, these authors gave brief descriptions of appositions, which were later extensively analyzed by W. Lee. (Muradova.N.N. 2015)

There are also different approaches to the description of a large number of very similar two-membered compounds classified as free and non-free appositions in the literature.

Examples of such expressions are the student Leyla, the poet Nizami, my sister Sona, we Azerbaijanis, you teachers, etc.

Different linguists believe that compounds with the same formal features also have the same categories. These compounds consist of two elements, one of which is called a proper noun, and the other is called a countable noun.

Together, these two components create an intonation unit, and there is no connecting element between these two components.

There are a large number of different analyses of non-free appositions in the linguistic literature.

Although the subject of non-free appositions is a somewhat controversial topic in the literature, many linguists agree that these compounds should be definite. Some linguists even note that the determining word should be a definite article.

A description of the formal features of non-free appositions and the semantic relationship between these two elements cannot be considered productive without considering them within a broader discourse (Muradova N.N. 2015).

It is considered acceptable to consider these two-member compounds within the context. For example, let us consider the following examples:

1) The writer Tom has been invited to the wedding party.

2) A writer Tom has been invited to the wedding party.

3) Through Aunt Ann’s compressed lips a tender smile forced its way.

In these examples given above, non-free appositions are used. However, as can be seen, the first and second sentences are formally identical, but in the first sentence, the definite article is used with the non-free apposition, and in the second sentence, the indefinite article is used with the non-free  apposition.

The use of the definite article with a non-free adjunct means that both the speaker and the listener in the discourse know who the writer Tom is and that they are familiar with him.

The use of the indefinite article with a non-free apposition means that the listener does not know which Tom is invited to the wedding party. In the second sentence, the use of the indefinite article with a non-free apposition means that the listener is given new information.

In the third sentence, the word aunt is used as an apposition, which is also a word that expresses a kinship relationship.

We do not use appositions spontaneously in a sentence. The use of the apposition depends on the background knowledge of the speaker and the listener. When we speak, we use an apposition when the information we convey about the apposition word is not at a level that the listener can understand.

That is why it is necessary to know its role at the discourse level in order to determine the correct use of apposition.

The new information presented in the discourse may be assumed to be familiar or unfamiliar to the listener. Informal appositions, which are given as new information in discourse, can be compounds expressing certainty or uncertainty.

Information that is new to the listener indicates information that is not expressed in the given discourse.

Thus, the speaker does not seem to be convinced that the listener has any knowledge of this information. Therefore, the use of the indefinite article in informal appositions indicates that the speaker considers this information to be new to the listener.

From the traditional description of informal appositions, it is clear that the subject of informal appositions, and in particular the relationship between the two components that form these appositions, is a controversial topic.

It is sometimes difficult to say which of the two components that form informal appositions is the main word, and the question of whether there is a main word in this compound generally arises.

If one of these components is the main word, then the second component must determine it. This raises such a question. If both components are at the same level, how can one of them be considered the main meaning?

Both components of non-free appositions are nouns, one of which is a common noun and the other is a proper noun. As a result, we can say that in non-free appositions, both components have the same structure.

Another type of apposition is called free or specific appositions.

Specific appositions are also a type of apposition, they are similar to descriptive apposition clauses. However, despite such similarity, there are isomorphic features between specific apposition and descriptive apposition clauses in both form and content. Let's look at the examples:

1) The ten rooms of the house were occupied by himself, his wife Julia and his son and daughter, George and Jessica.

2) Aunt Polly, who had nobody, did everything herself at home.

The words George and Jessica used in the first example given are specific appositions, and the sentence who had nobody given in the second example is a descriptive apposition clause.

The similarity of these examples is that in the first sentence, the sentence is enriched with additional information through the apposition, and in the second sentence, through the descriptive defining clause.

The difference is that in the first sentence, the apposition is expressed by a conjunction, and in the second sentence, the apposition is expressed by a clause with a predicate and a predicate.

When analyzing the examples shown, it can be concluded that punctuation marks - commas, semicolons, colons, dashes, and sometimes periods - are used precisely in the use of the apposition as a special addition. The order of use of these marks depends on the purpose of the apposition.

Sometimes there are cases when another apposition is needed to clarify, explain, or strengthen the meaning of a sentence member. There can be two appositions to a word in a sentence. For example:

The other half of this picture came when young Blyford, son of Blyford, the soap manufacturer, walked home with her.

Such appositions are called parallel appositions. The use of an apposition in a sentence serves to expand the meaning of the word expressed by the noun. The sequential use of two appositions serves to expand and more emphatic the meaning of this issue.

Such sentences are often found in fiction and serve to expand the meaning of the defined word.

Taking into account the above, we can note the pragmatic features of appositions as follows.

a) The feature of distinguishing new or familiar information. By using appositions, the speaker indicates that one piece of information is already known to the listener, and the other is new. For example: Australian animals, koalas, live in trees and look like little bears.

b) The feature of expressing an emotional or evaluative attitude. For example: Our guest, that is, John, joined us yesterday. These types of appositions create pragmatic clarity and clarify understanding.

c) The feature of using irony or humor. For example: My lovely cat, the destroyer of furniture, has struck again. Here, the apposition creates humorous shades and expresses the speaker's attitude to the idea.

d) The feature of regulating formal and informal style. For this purpose, appositions are often used in official texts. For example: An American businessman and philanthropist, Warren Buffett, is considered to be the most successful investor of the last two centuries.

Thus, appositions are not only a syntactic element, but also a pragmatic tool that reflects the intention of communication, the structure of information and the emotional attitude of the speaker.

From a pragmatic point of view, appositions can be used to achieve the following goals.

1) To clarify information or specify it. For example: Sara, a teacher, lives in the village. Here the listener understands more precisely who Sara is, that is, the teacher Sara.

2) To show the level of familiarity. In this case, if additional information is required, then the listener does not know that person or concept. For example: Tom, a third-year student has come again.

3) To shape the structure and flow of the text. For example: Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft company, is one of the world’s richest men.

4) In written speech, appositions can change the rhythm and structure of a sentence, making it richer and more expressive. For example: Tuvalu, a country consisting of nine small islands is in the west-central Pacific Ocean.

5) To express a conclusion or attitude. Sometimes appositions express the author’s or speaker’s attitude to an idea. This attitude can be negative or positive. For example: Esperanto is different from other languages because it has a particular author. Its creator is L.L. Zamenhof, a Polish eye doctor.

3. Conclusion                                                                                            

From the research, we conclude that in English, appositions are not only grammatical functional units, but also carry an important pragmatic load in terms of the speaker's intention, attitude and method of presenting information. Through restrictive and non-restrictive appositions, the speaker conveys to the listener the degree of familiarity, level of importance and emotional attitude of the information. Appositions play an important role in structuring information, and sometimes in emphasizing it. This gives grounds to characterize them not only as syntactic, but also as a communicative tool of the language. The study shows that correctly understanding and using the pragmatic properties of appositions increases the effectiveness of communication, serves the correct transmission of information between the listener and the speaker and the achievement of the speaker's goal. Considering all the above, we can say that appositions, like other problems in linguistics, remain a controversial problem. Future studies may discuss the role of appositions in discourse.

Funding: Not applicable.

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Informed Consent Statement/Ethics Approval: Not applicable.

Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted Technologies: This study has not used any generative AI tools or technologies in the preparation of this manuscript.