Contrastive perspectives on cleft sentences
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Jeanette K. Gundel✝
Abstract
This study examines the use of cleft sentences in J. K. Rowland’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and the Norwegian and Spanish translations of this novel, finding that clefts are most frequent in the Norwegian translation and least frequent in the Spanish translation, with the English original somewhere in between. The results are consistent with earlier findings that frequency in cleft usage differs considerably across languages which have this structure and that these differences cannot be attributed solely to information-stuctural properties of clefts in the three languages or to differences in structural properties such as word order or intonational flexibility.
Abstract
This study examines the use of cleft sentences in J. K. Rowland’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and the Norwegian and Spanish translations of this novel, finding that clefts are most frequent in the Norwegian translation and least frequent in the Spanish translation, with the English original somewhere in between. The results are consistent with earlier findings that frequency in cleft usage differs considerably across languages which have this structure and that these differences cannot be attributed solely to information-stuctural properties of clefts in the three languages or to differences in structural properties such as word order or intonational flexibility.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Introduction xv
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Part I. Information structure
- Theme zones in contrast: An analysis of their linguistic realization in the communicative act of a non-acceptance 3
- Last things first: An FDG approach to clause-final focus constituents in Spanish and English 33
- Contrastive perspectives on cleft sentences 69
- The position of adverbials and the pragmatic organization of the sentence: A comparison of French and Dutch 89
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Part II. Lexis in contrast
- Swedish verbs of perception from a typological and contrastive perspective 123
- 'Abroad' and semantically related terms in some European languages and in Akan (Ghana) 173
- The expression of emotion in Italian and English fairy tales 193
- The feminine stereotype in gay characterization: A look at English and Spanish 221
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Part III. Contrastive perspectives on SLA
- Communicative tasks across languages: Movie narratives in English, in English as a foreign language and in German 247
- Linguistic theory and bilingual systems: Simultaneous and sequential English/Spanish bilingualism 275
- Awareness of orthographic form and morphophonemic learning in EFL 299
- Contrastive intonation and error analysis: Tonality and tonicity in the interlanguage of a group of Spanish learners of English 327
- Author index 355
- Index of languages 359
- Index of terms 361
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Introduction xv
-
Part I. Information structure
- Theme zones in contrast: An analysis of their linguistic realization in the communicative act of a non-acceptance 3
- Last things first: An FDG approach to clause-final focus constituents in Spanish and English 33
- Contrastive perspectives on cleft sentences 69
- The position of adverbials and the pragmatic organization of the sentence: A comparison of French and Dutch 89
-
Part II. Lexis in contrast
- Swedish verbs of perception from a typological and contrastive perspective 123
- 'Abroad' and semantically related terms in some European languages and in Akan (Ghana) 173
- The expression of emotion in Italian and English fairy tales 193
- The feminine stereotype in gay characterization: A look at English and Spanish 221
-
Part III. Contrastive perspectives on SLA
- Communicative tasks across languages: Movie narratives in English, in English as a foreign language and in German 247
- Linguistic theory and bilingual systems: Simultaneous and sequential English/Spanish bilingualism 275
- Awareness of orthographic form and morphophonemic learning in EFL 299
- Contrastive intonation and error analysis: Tonality and tonicity in the interlanguage of a group of Spanish learners of English 327
- Author index 355
- Index of languages 359
- Index of terms 361
