| Description |
1 online resource (279 pages) |
| Series |
Topics in English Linguistics [TiEL] ; v. 79 |
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Topics in English Linguistics TiEL
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| Contents |
Acknowledgements; Contents; Chapter 1 Introduction and background; 1. An outline of the project; 2. An overview of the literature on cleft sentences; 2.1. The expletive approach; 2.2. The extraposition approach; 3. A constructional approach to it-clefts; 4. A diachronic approach to it-clefts; 5. Methodology; Chapter 2 A model of language structure and language change; 1. Some basic assumptions; 2. A constructional model of language structure; 3. A constructional model of language change; 4. The application to it-clefts and copular constructions; Chapter 3 Specificational copular constructions |
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1. Different and competing analyses1.1. The equative approach; 1.2. The inverse approach; 1.3. A less formal approach; 2. Specification as (the inverse of) nominal predication; 2.1. Specification and definite NP predicates; 2.2. Specification and inversion; 2.3. Capturing this account in cognitive and constructional frameworks; 3. Accounting for the behaviour of indefinite NPs; 3.1. Specification and indefinite NP predicates; 3.2. An account based on discourse requirements; 3.3. An account based on definiteness; 4. Summarizing and extending the account |
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4.1. An overview of specificational NP be NP sentences4.2. Positioning this account in relation to the literature; 4.3. Other specificational copular constructions; 4.3.1. Th-clefts as specificational copular sentences; 4.3.2. Wh-clefts as specificational copular sentences; 4.3.3. All-clefts as specificational copular sentences; 4.3.4. A family of specificational copular sentences; Chapter 4 It-clefts as specificational copular sentences; 1. The English it-cleft; 1.1. A "discontinuous constituent" account of it-clefts; 1.2. Explaining the it-cleft's pragmatic properties; 1.2.1. Focus |
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1.2.2. Presupposition1.2.3. Exhaustiveness; 1.2.4. Contrast; 1.3. Explaining the it-cleft's structural properties; 1.3.1. The behaviour of the cleft clause; 1.3.2. The evidence for VP constituency; 1.3.3. The evidence from agreement; 1.4. Interim summary; 2. A comparison with expletive accounts of it-clefts; 3. A comparison with other extraposition accounts of it-clefts; 3.1. The early extraposition accounts of the 1970s; 3.2. The more recent discontinuous constituent accounts; 3.3. A different extraposition account?; 4. A comparison with other constructional accounts of it-clefts |
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Chapter 5 Other varieties of it-cleft1. Beyond the archetypal it-cleft; 2. Predicational (and proverbial) it-clefts; 2.1. An expletive approach to predicational it-clefts; 2.2. Predicational it-clefts and the inverse approach; 2.3. Predicational it-clefts and the equative approach; 3. It-clefts with non-nominal foci; 4. Informative-presupposition (IP) it-clefts; 5. Summary; Chapter 6 The it-cleft and earlier periods of English; 1. Beyond the present-day language system; 2. The early history of the English it-cleft; 3. A restrictively modified pronoun? |
| Summary |
The English it-cleft is noted for its non-standard structure and for its unusual pragmatic and discourse-functional properties. This book presents a constructional account of the English it-cleft which is based on evidence from three main areas: (a) the concept of specificational meaning, (b) the existence of predicational (and proverbial) it-clefts, and (c) the early, historical it-cleft data. Featuring a sizeable diachronic component, the book contributes to the limited (and largely unchallenged) literature on the history of the English it-cleft |
| Analysis |
Construction Grammar |
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English Linguistics |
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Historical Linguistics |
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It-Cleft |
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Specificational Sentences |
| Notes |
4. An obligatorily extraposed relative clause? |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-265) and index |
| Notes |
English |
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Print version record |
| Subject |
It (English word)
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English language -- Word order.
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English language -- Syntax.
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LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES -- Grammar & Punctuation.
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LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES -- Linguistics -- Syntax.
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English language -- Syntax
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English language -- Word order
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| LC no. |
2012474302 |
| ISBN |
9783110279528 |
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3110279525 |
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