The English it-cleft [[electronic resource] ] : a constructional account and a diachronic investigation / / by Amanda L. Patten

• Autore: Patten Amanda L
• Pubblicazione: Berlin ; ; Boston, : De Gruyter Mouton, 2012
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (279 p.)
• Disciplina: 415
• Soggetto topico: It (The English word); English language - Word order; English language - Syntax
• Soggetto non controllato: Construction Grammar; English Linguistics; Historical Linguistics; It-Cleft; Specificational Sentences
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. [249]-265) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Front matter -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Chapter 1. Introduction and background -- Chapter 2. A model of language structure and language change -- Chapter 3. Specificational copular constructions -- Chapter 4. It-clefts as specificational copular sentences -- Chapter 5. Other varieties of it-cleft -- Chapter 6. The it-cleft and earlier periods of English -- Chapter 7. The it-cleft's development over time -- Chapter 8. The it-cleft and constructional change -- Chapter 9. Conclusions -- Corpora and data sources -- References -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: 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.
• Titolo autorizzato: The English it-cleft
• ISBN: 3-11-027952-5
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Record Nr.: 9910786123403321
• Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II
• Serie: Topics in English linguistics ; ; 79.