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Abstract Abstract: Adjacency Rule is defined as “semantically-related elements are required to be adjacent syntactically”. Previous studies have found that Modern English observes Adjacency Rule, and its various synchronic behaviors are manifested, but its diachronic changes and motivations remain unexplored. This study attempts to make a diachronic investigation of the Adjacency Rule in English found both at macro-syntactic and micro-syntactic layers. Three major findings are presented: (1) at macro-syntactic layer, most of the once separated semantically-related syntactic elements evolved to be adjacent in that the once separated case-assigner and case-assignee became adjacent; (2) at micro-syntactic layer, “attributive+head” combinations have gradually evolved, and adverbs that were once in seemingly unmotivated syntactic positions evolved to be in syntactic slots compatible to their semantics;(3) the formation of the Adjacent Rule in Present-day English has undergone various diachronic paths. The diachronic investigation of Adjacency Rule is of much historical-linguistic significance to the observation and understanding of the diachronic change of English syntactic structure.
Key words: Adjacency Rule; structural case-assigning; syntactic layers; predicate-object construction
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