The English it-Cleft : : A Constructional Account and a Diachronic Investigation / / Amanda Patten.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DGBA Backlist Complete English Language 2000-2014 PART1
• VerfasserIn: Patten, Amanda,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin ;, Boston : : De Gruyter Mouton, , [2012]; ©2013
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Series: Topics in English Linguistics [TiEL] , 79
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (269 p.)
• Other title: Frontmatter --; 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
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9783110279528; 9783110238570; 9783110238457; 9783110636970; 9783110742961; 9783110288995; 9783110288902; 9783110288896
• ISSN: 1434-3452
• DOI: 10.1515/9783110279528
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Amanda Patten.

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.