Inversion Types of Syntactic Deviations in the Collected Poems of Langston Hughes

words added to a sentence to make it complete. On the other hand, those which belong to adjunct are adverb and prepositional phrase that provides added information about the meaning of a verb by expressing a relation of time, place, manner, etc. The writer figures out nine sentences that happen to experience subject displacement. Below is an example of subject displacement found in the poems. and maybe was I blind Conjunction Adjunct Verb Subject Complement ln 6 Datum No.53 This datum No.53 is an example of subject displacement showing that the subject was put at the end of a sentence. It is found in the poem entitled “So Long” that tells about someone who has gone for so long to another place, and perhaps another world. “I” in the sentence “and maybe was I blind” breaks the rule of a standard structure in which subject should come first before the verb. The author used subject displacement to emphasize the persona in the poems for he did not realize what the reality was. The person that the persona waited for had gone for a long time. However, the persona had not really understood the reason for the person‟s leaving as he stated “but it‟s like a foreign language in my mind”. The persona felt very lost after the person‟s leaving that he did not want to see the reality that the person had gone for a very long time. A further example of subject displacement is illustrated as follows. So long, So far away Is Africa. Complement Verb Subject ln 1 8 Subdued and time-lost Are the drums Complement Verb Subject ln 9 Datum No.53 This datum No.53 is taken from the poem entitled “Afro-American Fragment ”. The poem discussed a worker who had been working for a long time in America. He had lived in America for a long time that he almost lost his memories of Africa and the nuance there. One day he heard an African song, and that brought sadness yet strangeness to him. The song made him realize that Africa was very far in distance. He figured out strange rhyme on the song and that made him feel lonely. The phrase so long, so far away breaks the word order rules. It should come after the Subject and Verb. The standard English is Africa is so long, so far away. The phrase so long, so far away gives information about Africa, therefore it should come after the subject. The same case happens for the second sentence. The phrase subdued and time-lost explains about the drums, therefore it should come after the drums are and make a whole sentence of The drums are subdued and time-lost. The subjects in those two sentences above are misplaced. They are put at the end of a sentence. These kinds of sentences are put to attract the readers‟ attention while reading the poem. One more example of subject displacement is presented in the following datum. But then comes summer Conjunction Verb Subject ln 5 Datum No.22 Another subject displacement is found in the poem entitled “When Young Spring Comes”. This poem tells readers about the beginning of year as a chance to be a better man. However, when summer comes, some distraction will also come to wobble. As described above, the subject summer is displaced. It is supposed to come before the verb comes. Thus, The standard English is “But then summer comes”.

d. Noun Phrase Displacement

The writer figures eight noun phrase displacements in the collection of poems written by Langston Hughes. As stated by Thorns, G. 2010:35, it may occur in some ways differently than prepositional phrase displacements. Noun phrases finding is tied to certain aspects of its interpretation in a sentence. For example, noun phrase can appear as either a subject or object. Moreover, the verb affects the position of the noun phrase in some ways. The noun phrase displacement may lead into ambiguity on the sentence‟s meaning. The examples of noun phrase displacement are shown as follows. swaying to and fro on his rickety stool, Noun Phrase ln 12 He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool Main Clause ln 13 Datum No.4 This datum is taken from the poem entitled “The Weary Blues” which describes about a sad song that sounds wearisome and it depicts a black man‟s feeling towards his problem. The song is played when he sits down lazily at night. 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.