Subject Displacement Types of Syntactic Deviations in the Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
He sings the song also as it captures his problems at that time. He keeps repeating that song for several times until he falls asleep.
Since the noun phrase in the datum supposes to be functioned as object, it should be put after the main clause. Here, the noun phrase gives more explanation
about the activity doing by the subject. Thus, the sentence supposed to be:
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool, Main Clause
swaying to and fro on his rickety stool Noun phrase
In the correct order, the sentence means that the persona heard a song sung by a Negro. He sang in a weak beats and the theme was rather melancholic.
Another noun phrase displacement is found in the poem entitled “Free Man” which describes about how the man feels about being free as presented in
the following datum.
But you cant, pretty mama, Ever catch me. ln 3
But youll never, pretty mama, Keep me caged up here. ln 6
Noun phrase Correct sentence:
But you can’t ever catch me, pretty mama
Sub clause Noun Phrase
Datum No.32
The persona in this poem challenges someone on catching him and even keeping him around. The persona states that someone may be able to do
something difficult that he frames as “catch the wind, catch the sea, tame a rabbit, tame a bear
” but then at the end he says that he can never be caught or even caged.
A noun phrase is either a pronoun or any group of words that can be replaced by a pronoun Thoms, G. 2012. The noun phrase above, pretty mama,
comes between the auxiliary and the verb. However, the noun phrase functioned as an object and therefore should be put at the back. Since the persona challenges
someone, that someone should be put at the back as the object of the sentence. The same case also happens in the sentence,
But youll never, pretty mama, keep me caged up here.
noun phrase . The next examples datum is taken from a poem whichen titled
“Pay Day”. The example is presented in the following datum.
Nor them two diamond rings ln 8 And take back all them things we had ln 12
Datum No.27 This poem narrates a man‟s feeling towards paying check by himself,
without any contribution from his wife. He is so upset because he needs to pay all the checks by himself, and the woman does not want to pay even one cent. He
wanted to sell all the furniture and took back the installment plan. He did not need any furniture to live, and even diamond rings. At the end of the poem, he cursed
his wife as the best woman yet the worst. The pronouns used in datum No.27 are misplaced. They should be put at
the end of the sentence. Thus, The standard English for ln 8 and 12 are:
Nor the two diamond rings for them and take back all things we had with them
The pronouns are functioned as the object pronouns, thus they are put at the back
of the sentence to complete the object of the sentence.
Noun phrases are very simple ideas in themselves, but they can be extremely complex in how they manifest themselves in actual language. It can be
infinite in length, but they will sound absurd if they got too long. Moreover, the displacement may occur when it is not put as its function. As shown in the
previous examples when the noun phrase should function as object but then it put between the auxiliary and the verb, it is displaced.