Chapter 3. An account of the use of fronting and clefting in Cornish English
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Avelino Corral Esteban
Abstract
Unlike Standard English, Celtic English varieties generally use word order shifts or special syntactic devices to give emphasis to a specific clausal constituent. This study analyses the frequency of use of focusing devices in a number of Cornish English stories and compares the results with those obtained in other studies for other Celtic English varieties. Likewise, this chapter attempts to provide an explanation for why Cornish English shows a preference for fronting over clefting by referring to the structure of focal constructions in Cornish. Finally, I offer an account of the discourse-pragmatic functions of fronting and clefting in Cornish English and compares them with those found in Standard English to provide evidence in support of its Celtic substratum.
Abstract
Unlike Standard English, Celtic English varieties generally use word order shifts or special syntactic devices to give emphasis to a specific clausal constituent. This study analyses the frequency of use of focusing devices in a number of Cornish English stories and compares the results with those obtained in other studies for other Celtic English varieties. Likewise, this chapter attempts to provide an explanation for why Cornish English shows a preference for fronting over clefting by referring to the structure of focal constructions in Cornish. Finally, I offer an account of the discourse-pragmatic functions of fronting and clefting in Cornish English and compares them with those found in Standard English to provide evidence in support of its Celtic substratum.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
- Chapter 2. Adapting the Dynamic Model to historical linguistics 5
- Chapter 3. An account of the use of fronting and clefting in Cornish English 35
- Chapter 4. How does causal connection originate? 57
- Chapter 5. Old Northumbrian in the Scottish Borders 75
- Chapter 6. From eadig to happy 97
- Chapter 7. Distributional changes in synonym sets 119
- Chapter 8. The taking off and catching on of etymological spellings in Early Modern English 143
- Chapter 9. Speech acts in the history of English 165
- Index 181
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
- Chapter 2. Adapting the Dynamic Model to historical linguistics 5
- Chapter 3. An account of the use of fronting and clefting in Cornish English 35
- Chapter 4. How does causal connection originate? 57
- Chapter 5. Old Northumbrian in the Scottish Borders 75
- Chapter 6. From eadig to happy 97
- Chapter 7. Distributional changes in synonym sets 119
- Chapter 8. The taking off and catching on of etymological spellings in Early Modern English 143
- Chapter 9. Speech acts in the history of English 165
- Index 181
