clausebridging

Clause bridging is a linguistic term that refers to the process of connecting two clauses that lack a direct grammatical link between them. This can occur when two clauses are related in meaning or topicality, but are not formally connected by a conjunction or a subordinating conjunction.

There are several types of clause bridging, including semantic bridging, pragmatic bridging, and morphological bridging. Semantic bridging involves the connection of two clauses based on their shared meaning or context. For example, in the sentence "I gave my sister a book and she read it," the two clauses are related by a shared topic (the book) and a shared action (reading).

Pragmatic bridging involves the connection of two clauses based on additional information or context that is not explicitly stated in the sentence. For example, in the sentence "I went to the store," it may be inferred that the purpose of the trip was to buy something, even though this is not explicitly stated.

Morphological bridging involves the use of morphological processes, such as agreement or aspect, to connect two clauses. For example, in the sentence "I slept and I woke up," the two clauses are connected by a shared subject (I) and a shared verb form (slept).

Clause bridging is a common phenomenon in language and can occur in both spoken and written language. It is used to create complex and nuanced sentence structures, and to convey additional information or context that is not explicitly stated in the sentence.