Article published In:
The dynamicity of communication below, around and above the clauseEdited by Ben Clarke and Jorge Arús-Hita
[English Text Construction 9:1] 2016
► pp. 115–142
Edited by Ben Clarke and Jorge Arús-Hita
[English Text Construction 9:1] 2016
► pp. 115–142
Specificational there-clefts
Functional structure and information structure
In this article we present functional-structural and information structure arguments for recognizing specificational there-clefts, i.e. clefts that specify a value for a variable. We distinguish two types which hinge on whether the matrix is a listing or a canonical existential. Listing there-clefts enumerate one or more instances as corresponding to the variable, e.g. You are quite right David, it was engineered, seems there’s only me and you who can see this. Quantifying there-clefts indicate the quantity of instantiation of the variable, e.g. Look at the shape of it. There’s only one thing that’s that shape.
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2023. Chapter 5. Presentational clefts, existentials and information structure. In Existential Constructions across Languages [Human Cognitive Processing, 76], ► pp. 139 ff.
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Davidse, Kristin, Ngum Meyuhnsi Njende & Gerard O’Grady
2023. Structural Assemblies and Semantics of the Four Existential Constructions with Relative Clause. In Specificational and Presentational There-Clefts, ► pp. 75 ff.
Gentens, Caroline, Lobke Ghesquière, William B. McGregor & An Van linden
2023. Introduction. Reconnecting form and meaning. In Reconnecting Form and Meaning [Studies in Language Companion Series, 230], ► pp. 1 ff.
Kaltenböck, Gunther
2023. Chapter 1. On the use of there -clefts with zero subject relativizer. In Reconnecting Form and Meaning [Studies in Language Companion Series, 230], ► pp. 17 ff.
van Praet, Wout
2023. Referential accessibility as an index of the discourse functions of predicative and specificational clauses. Text & Talk 43:1 ► pp. 113 ff.
Jourdain, Morgane
2022. The emergence of Information Structure in child speech: the acquisition ofc’est-clefts in French. Cognitive Linguistics 33:1 ► pp. 121 ff.
Lahousse, Karen
2022. Is focus a root phenomenon?. In When Data Challenges Theory [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 273], ► pp. 148 ff.
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Karssenberg, Lena, Karen Lahousse, Béatrice Lamiroy, Stefania Marzo & Ana Drobnjakovic
Destruel, Emilie
2017. The pragmatics of French (non-)prototypical clefts: Influence of the type of question on naturalness and interpretation. Journal of Pragmatics 121 ► pp. 58 ff.
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