John Benjamins Publishing Company
On the nature of covert operations
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Olga Fernández-Soriano
Abstract
The phenomenon analyzed in this paper is instantiated by a type of pseudocleft structure in (oral) Spanish, characterized by the fact that when the element which is actually clefted (which is also marked as focus) is an internal argument, it can ‘extend’ its focal status to the constituents dominating it (VP/IP). As a consequence, in these constructions syntactic structure does not match semantic interpretation. This is (obligatorily) accompanied by a phenomenon of ‘relative reduction’: the relative pronoun in the relative clause does not spell out the features of the clefted element but those of the constituent which is actually interpreted as focus (i.e. the VP or the whole IP). The analysis proposed for this phenomenon is that there is a covert process of focus extension preceded by (also covert) reconstruction. In particular, we adapt the monoclausal analysis of English cleft structures (Kiss’ 1998) to pseudoclefts and claim that (identificational) focus propagates in a direct path to VP or IP thus accounting for the interpretation obtained. This account will be extended to other structures including a type of wh-structure, the so called ‘split interrogatives’.
Abstract
The phenomenon analyzed in this paper is instantiated by a type of pseudocleft structure in (oral) Spanish, characterized by the fact that when the element which is actually clefted (which is also marked as focus) is an internal argument, it can ‘extend’ its focal status to the constituents dominating it (VP/IP). As a consequence, in these constructions syntactic structure does not match semantic interpretation. This is (obligatorily) accompanied by a phenomenon of ‘relative reduction’: the relative pronoun in the relative clause does not spell out the features of the clefted element but those of the constituent which is actually interpreted as focus (i.e. the VP or the whole IP). The analysis proposed for this phenomenon is that there is a covert process of focus extension preceded by (also covert) reconstruction. In particular, we adapt the monoclausal analysis of English cleft structures (Kiss’ 1998) to pseudoclefts and claim that (identificational) focus propagates in a direct path to VP or IP thus accounting for the interpretation obtained. This account will be extended to other structures including a type of wh-structure, the so called ‘split interrogatives’.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Tense domains in BP and EP – vP, CP and phases 1
- Variable-behavior Ps and the location of PATH in Old French 25
- Hebrew and Arabic children going Romance 51
- Adjectives and deleted nominals in Spanish 67
- On the nature of covert operations 87
- Ellipsis and Restructuring in European Portuguese 109
- The early steps of modal and negation interactions 131
- Structural patterns blocking plural in Romance nominalizations 145
- On the distribution of adjectives in Romanian 161
- Subject doubling in European Portuguese dialects 179
- On the Quebec French interrogative particle tu 201
- Autonomous typological prosodic evolution versus the Germanic superstrate in diachronic French phonology 223
- Dummy prepositions and the licensing of null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese 243
- OV sequences in early child Catalan and English 267
- Index 287
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Tense domains in BP and EP – vP, CP and phases 1
- Variable-behavior Ps and the location of PATH in Old French 25
- Hebrew and Arabic children going Romance 51
- Adjectives and deleted nominals in Spanish 67
- On the nature of covert operations 87
- Ellipsis and Restructuring in European Portuguese 109
- The early steps of modal and negation interactions 131
- Structural patterns blocking plural in Romance nominalizations 145
- On the distribution of adjectives in Romanian 161
- Subject doubling in European Portuguese dialects 179
- On the Quebec French interrogative particle tu 201
- Autonomous typological prosodic evolution versus the Germanic superstrate in diachronic French phonology 223
- Dummy prepositions and the licensing of null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese 243
- OV sequences in early child Catalan and English 267
- Index 287
