The English It-Cleft: A Constructional Account and a Diachronic Investigation

By Amanda Patten

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3110277808
• ISBN13: 9783110277807
• Release Date: December 2012
• Publisher: de Gruyter Mouton
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 22 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary