Register-specific meaning categorization of linking adverbials in English

• A new meaning categorization system of linking adverbials.
• New linking adverbials and meanings were identified.
• Registers vary in the use of meanings and types of linking adverbials.
• Intonation units influence grammatical functions.
• Corpus studies need to be complemented by manual analysis.

English grammar reference books present a wide range of categorizations of linking adverbials according to semantic meaning. Different from this traditional semantic-only approach in previous grammar books, this study develops a new categorization system based on both semantic and pragmatic approaches. The proposed new meaning categorization system represents five registers: written academic prose, written news, academic lectures, broadcast news and conversation. Bearing in mind pedagogical implications in EAP/ESP contexts, this paper also presents a possible substitution test, types of linking adverbials and frequency of each of the types of each meaning category in each register. This study confirms that register-specific corpus studies based on manual analysis complement prevalent corpus-based pedagogical grammar studies and contribute to the understanding of the nature and meaning of linguistic items, especially multi-functional forms in spoken registers.