The English it-Cleft - A Constructional Account and a Diachronic Investigation

This book examines the structure and function of the English it-cleft configuration from within the framework of construction grammar. It defends a straightforward extraposition-from-NP analysis (on which the cleft clause is a restrictive relative, modifying the initial it) and claims that all types of it-cleft involve nominal predication. Support for this analysis comes from three main areas: (a) the central role of definiteness in the creation of specificational meaning, (b) the existence and makeup of predicational (and proverbial) it-clefts, and (c) the early, historical it-cleft data. In addition, the book contains a sizeable diachronic component, drawing data from the Penn Parsed Corpora of Historical English and from the International Corpus of English - Great Britain. This investigation informs and advances what is an otherwise simple account of the English it-cleft, explaining how and why the configuration has developed an assortment of peculiar, construction-specific properties over time.

About the author

Amanda Patten, Northumbria University, UK.

Product details

• Authors: Amanda Patten
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.12.2012
• EAN: 9783110277807
• ISBN: 978-3-11-027780-7
• No. of pages: 269
• Dimensions: 180 mm x 20 mm x 237 mm
• Weight: 522 g
• Series: Topics in English Linguistics; Topics in English Linguistics [TiEL]; Topics in English Linguistics [TiEL]; Topics in English Linguistics; ISSN
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies