| 释义 |
ˈrankshift, n. Linguistics.
[f. rank n.1 + shift n.]
A downward shift in the rank of a grammatical unit (see quot. 1966).
1961M. A. K. Halliday in Word XVII. 251 The theory allows for downward ‘rank shift’: the transfer of a (formal realization of a) given unit to a lower rank... It does not allow for upward rank shift. 1966G. N. Leech Eng. in Advertising ii. 20 Embedding is a shift in rank, whereby a group acts as a word, or a word acts as a morpheme, etc... The nominal genitive is another case of double rank shift: (((Mary)'s aged grandmother)'s faithful servant). The nominal groups ‘Mary’ and ‘Mary's aged grandmother’ act as morphemes. 1969― Towards Semantic Descr. Eng. iii. 52 Rank-shift or downgrading, as forms of subordination, introduce an extra factor of order into semantic structure, so that by reversing the relation of dependence between two predications, one may account for a difference of meaning. 1972M. L. Samuels Linguistic Evolution iv. 59 Many later additions to the inventory of English prepositions resulted from a similar process of historical rankshift, e.g. concerning, regarding, according to, owing to, and (more recently) due to. 1977Language LIII. 192 Although the men's halls and the women's halls is a group consisting of two smaller groups, B does not regard this as an instance of ‘rankshift’: this is restricted to cases where an element of a multivariate structure is filled by an expression of higher or equal rank.
Hence as v. trans., to assign an inferior rank or function to a unit in a grammatical structure. Also ˈrankshifted ppl. a.; ˈrankshifting vbl. n.
1964M. A. K. Halliday et al. Linguistic Sci. 27 In English some clauses are rankshifted and work inside the pattern of a group. If I say ‘where I live it always rains’, this sentence consists of two clauses, which together make up the structure of the sentence. But if I say ‘the house where I live is very damp’, the sentence consists, in its structure, of only one clause; the clause ‘where I live’ is rankshifted and operates in the structure of the group ‘the house where I live’. 1969Eng. Studies L. 36 We shall not go into the question of whether examples here quoted under the heading of headlines with FB structure do not really belong in the section rankshifted clauses. 1969G. N. Leech Towards Semantic Descr. Eng. ii. 26 There is no defined limit of tolerance to the depth of constituent structure produced by rank-shifting one predication inside another. 1972Language XLVIII. 451 Limitations of space permit both L [sc. G. N. Leech] and myself only to raise, but not to answer, the question whether one can express within the notation of logic the operations of rank-shifting and down⁓grading. 1973G. W. Turner Stylistics iii. 82 ‘If you expect to get something good, for nothing, you are likely to get something good for nothing’..in the second clause ‘good for nothing’ is rank-shifted to behave as one word and become a single qualifier. 1977Language LIII. 192 It follows that from Glasgow is rankshifted in the man from Glasgow, where it functions as qualifier in a multivariate nominal group. |