It -clefts in the meta-informative structure of the utterance in Modern and Present-day English
-
Ana Elina Martínez-Insua
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the it-cleft construction and aims at, first, profiling it from the perspective adopted in Meta-Informative Centering Theory (hereafter, MIC) and, second, describing the major tendencies yielded by a diachronic corpus-based analysis. It-clefts deserve a specific place in an account of English constructions because of at least two specific characteristics: the expletive nature of its introducer and the difficulty of accounting for the postverbal subordinate clause by resorting to grammatical concepts such as relativisation, detached postmodification, or even some kind of right dislocation. The English it-cleft will be presented here as a device of focalisation used for establishing a meta-informative contrast with the second part of the utterance, making it possible, in a Strict Word Order (SWO) language as English, to put this focalised constituent at the front of the utterance (thus contradicting the neutral order: given-before-new). The study presented here illustrates the quite recent consolidation of the mechanism of clefting as a thematising meta-informative strategy in the English language. This consolidation of the it-cleft construction is corroborated both quantitatively and qualitatively. By means of this system, the speaker focuses on the referent of the Local CA constituent that occupies the X-position and places heavy (normally available) information in final location within the background rightmost clause.
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the it-cleft construction and aims at, first, profiling it from the perspective adopted in Meta-Informative Centering Theory (hereafter, MIC) and, second, describing the major tendencies yielded by a diachronic corpus-based analysis. It-clefts deserve a specific place in an account of English constructions because of at least two specific characteristics: the expletive nature of its introducer and the difficulty of accounting for the postverbal subordinate clause by resorting to grammatical concepts such as relativisation, detached postmodification, or even some kind of right dislocation. The English it-cleft will be presented here as a device of focalisation used for establishing a meta-informative contrast with the second part of the utterance, making it possible, in a Strict Word Order (SWO) language as English, to put this focalised constituent at the front of the utterance (thus contradicting the neutral order: given-before-new). The study presented here illustrates the quite recent consolidation of the mechanism of clefting as a thematising meta-informative strategy in the English language. This consolidation of the it-cleft construction is corroborated both quantitatively and qualitatively. By means of this system, the speaker focuses on the referent of the Local CA constituent that occupies the X-position and places heavy (normally available) information in final location within the background rightmost clause.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction ix
-
Part 1. Associative semantics and meta-informative centering
- Roles and anchors of semantic situations 3
- Frames of semantic situations 21
- Grounding of the meta-informative status of utterances 41
- Attention-centered information in language 59
-
Part 2. Neuropsychological evidence for the MIC theory
- Semantic and episodic memory by reference to the ontological grounding of the old and new meta-informative status 103
- Tracing the role of memory and attention for the meta-informative validation of utterances 121
-
Part 3. Meta-informative centering in languages
- It -clefts in the meta-informative structure of the utterance in Modern and Present-day English 145
- Discourse coherence and referent identification of subject ellipsis in Japanese 167
- Structure of centre of attention in a multi-party conversation in Japanese 183
- Verbal aspect in Slavic languages between semantics and pragmatics 193
- The position in the utterance and the melodic realisation of object and reflexive pronouns in classical modern literary Russian 231
- Accented and unaccented pronouns in Ancient Greek 259
- Personal subject pronouns and the meta-informative centering of utterances in classical Latin 285
- Glossary of defined terminology 297
- Index 303
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction ix
-
Part 1. Associative semantics and meta-informative centering
- Roles and anchors of semantic situations 3
- Frames of semantic situations 21
- Grounding of the meta-informative status of utterances 41
- Attention-centered information in language 59
-
Part 2. Neuropsychological evidence for the MIC theory
- Semantic and episodic memory by reference to the ontological grounding of the old and new meta-informative status 103
- Tracing the role of memory and attention for the meta-informative validation of utterances 121
-
Part 3. Meta-informative centering in languages
- It -clefts in the meta-informative structure of the utterance in Modern and Present-day English 145
- Discourse coherence and referent identification of subject ellipsis in Japanese 167
- Structure of centre of attention in a multi-party conversation in Japanese 183
- Verbal aspect in Slavic languages between semantics and pragmatics 193
- The position in the utterance and the melodic realisation of object and reflexive pronouns in classical modern literary Russian 231
- Accented and unaccented pronouns in Ancient Greek 259
- Personal subject pronouns and the meta-informative centering of utterances in classical Latin 285
- Glossary of defined terminology 297
- Index 303
