Specificational and Presentational There-Clefts: Redefining the Field of Clefts

by Ngum Njende, Gerard O'Grady, Kristin Davidse

This book proposes a radically new account of clefts in English. Since the 1960s, functional as well as formal linguists have generally restricted clefts to constructions with an identifying matrix (it-clefts) and have claimed that they only code information structure. Clefts are assumed to unpack a simple proposition into a focus - presupposition structure. In this book, the authors reject these theoretical-descriptive assumptions, arguing instead...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 303132269X
• ISBN13: 9783031322693
• Release Date: August 2023
• Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
• Length: 187 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.8" x 8.3"