16) Compound sentence, its existence

The compound sentence is a polypredicative construction built on the principle of coordination (parataxis); the clauses of a compound sentence are arranged as units of syntactically equal rank, equipotently. Paradigmatically, the compound sentence is derived from two or more base sentences, joined as coordinate clauses. One of them becomes the leading clause (the “leader” clause), and the other clauses, which may or may not include the coordinative connector, occupy the dependent sentential position and may be called sequential clauses. Though the dependence between the clauses of a compound sentence is not subordinative (the sequential clause is not inserted into the position of a nominative part in the matrix sentence), the dependence is manifested positionally: by means of differences in syntactic distribution of predicative units, different distributions of the ideas expressed are achieved. Cf.: They quarreled and then they made up (again); They made up, and then they quarreled (again) (the sequence of events in time is shown as different); or, She was sick and she took some medicine (= because she was sick); She took some medicine and she became sick (= because she took the medicine) (the sequence of events in time and their causal-consequential relations are shown as different). There has been some controversy concerning the syntactic status of the compound sentence: some linguists maintain that it is not a specific syntactic construction, but a sequence of separate sentences similar to the combination of semantically related independent sentences in speech, as in supra-sentential constructions in the text. The following arguments are used to show the arbitrariness of compound sentences: the possibility of a falling, finalizing tone between the coordinated predicative units and the possibility of using the same coordinative conjunctions for the introduction of separate sentences; cf.: They quarreled, but then they made up again. - They quarreled. But then they made up again. The fact is, there is a distinct semantico-syntactic difference between the two constructions: the closeness of connections between the events is shown by means of combining predicative units into a coordinative polypredicative sequence, while the connections between the events in a sequence of independent sentences are shown as rather loose. Besides, the subordinate clauses can also be separated in the text, being changed into specific independent sentences, but this does not challenge the status of the complex sentence as a separate syntactic unit.