Existing second language acquisition research converges on a picture where learners of English exhibit marked divergence from native speakers in their use of information-packaging constructions, even at advanced stages of acquisition. This study extends the investigation of these constructions to an emerging institutionalised second language variety, Hong Kong English. Based on the Hong Kong and British components of the International Corpus of English, the study examines the formal and functional properties of it-clefts and wh-clefts, revealing regional variation in a number of areas, particularly in the use of that’s why constructions. Importantly, the grammar of the contact variety is found to be shaped by the transfer of gradient grammatical rules from the substrate language, and by stratification along stylistic parameters.
2010 “A Usage-Based Approach to Substratum Transfer: The Case of Four Unproductive Features in Singapore English”. Language 861: 792–820.
Benson, Phil
2002 “Hong Kong Words: Variation and Context”. In Kingsley Bolton, ed., Hong Kong English: Autonomy and Creativity. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 161–70.
Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, and Edward Finegan
1999Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. London: Longman.
Bolton, Kingsley
ed.2002Hong Kong English: Autonomy and Creativity. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Bolton, Kingsley
2003Chinese Englishes. A Sociolinguistic History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bolton, Kingsley, and Shirley Geok-lin Lim
2002 “Futures for Hong Kong English”. In Kingsley Bolton, ed. Hong Kong English: Autonomy and Creativity. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 295–313.
Boström Aronsson, Mia
2003 “On Clefts and Information Structure in Swedish EFL Writing”. In Sylviane Granger, and Stephanie Petch-Tyson, eds. Extending the Scope of Corpus-Based Research: New Applications, New Challenges. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 197–210.
Boström Aronsson, Mia
2005 “Themes in Swedish Advanced Learners’ Written English”. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Gothenburg.
Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
2012 “Population Aged 5 and Over by Duration of Residence in Hong Kong, Ethnicity and Usual Language”. [URL] (accessed January 30, 2015)
Census and Statistics Department
2014 “Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics. June 2014 Feature Article. Use of Language in Hong Kong in 2012”. [URL] (accessed January 30, 2015)
Chafe, Wallace L
1976 “Givenness, Contrastiveness, Definiteness, Subjects, Topics, and Point of View”. In Charles N. Li, ed. Subject and Topic. New York: Academic Press, 25–56.
Chan, Alice Y.W
2004 “Syntactic Transfer: Evidence from the Interlanguage of Hong Kong Chinese ESL Learners”. The Modern Language Journal 881: 56–74.
Cheng, Lisa Lai-shen
2008 “Deconstructing the Shì…De Construction”. The Linguistic Review 251: 235–266.
1977 “On wh-Movement”. In Peter Culicover, Thomas Wasow, and Adrian Akmajian, eds. Formal Syntax. New York: Academic Press, 71–132.
Collins, Peter
1991Clefts and Pseudo-Cleft Constructions in English. London: Routledge.
Collins, Peter
2009 “Information-Packaging Constructions”. In Pam Peters, Peter Collins, and Adam Smith, eds. Comparative Studies in Australian and New Zealand English: Grammar and Beyond. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 293–314.
Declerck, Ranaat
1984 “The Pragmatics of it-Clefts and wh-Clefts”. Lingua 641: 251–289.
Deroey, Katrien L.B
2012 “What They Highlight Is…: The Discourse Functions of Basic wh-Clefts in Lectures”. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 111: 112–124.
1996 “Second Language Acquisition and Linguistic Theory: The Role of Language Transfer”. In William C. Ritchie, and Tej K. Bhatia, eds. Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. San Diego CA: Academic Press, 317–345.
Gazdar, Gerald, Ewan Klein, Geoffrey K. Pullum, and Ivan A. Sag
1996 “The Function and Interpretation of Reverse Wh-Clefts in Spoken Discourse”. Language and Speech 391: 185–227.
Prince, Ellen
1978 “A Comparison of wh-Clefts and it-Clefts in Discourse”. Language 541: 883–906.
Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik
1985A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.
Rowley-Jolivet, Elizabeth, and Shirley Carter-Thomas
2005 “Genre Awareness and Rhetorical Appropriacy: Manipulation of Information Structure by NS and NNS Scientists in the International Conference Setting”. English for Specific Purposes 241: 41–64.
Schachter, Jacqueline
1974 “An Error in Error Analysis”. Language Learning 241: 205–214.
Schneider, Edgar W
2007Postcolonial English. Varieties around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sharwood Smith, Michael
2013 “Only Connect: The Interface Debate in Second Language Acquisition”. Psycholinguistic and Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Second Language Learning and Teaching. Berlin: Springer, 27–39.
Shi, Yu-Zhi
2005 “Lun Panduan, Jiaodian, Qiangdiao yu Duibi zhi Guanxi: ‘Shi’ de Yufa Gongneng he Shiyong Tiaojian”. Yuyan Yanjiu 251: 43–53.
Sorace, Antonella, and Ludovica Serratrice
2009 “Internal and External Interfaces in Bilingual Language Development: Revisiting the Processing vs. Representation Distinction”. The International Journal of Bilingualism 131: 195–210.
Teng, Shou-hsin
1979 “Remarks on Cleft Sentences in Chinese”. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 71: 101–113.
Tsao, Feng-fu
1990Sentence and Clause Structure in Chinese: A Functional Perspective. Taipei: Student Book Co., Ltd.
Tsimpli, Ianthi Maria, and Antonella Sorace
2006 “Differentiating Interfaces: L2 Performance in Syntax–Semantics and Syntax–Discourse Phenomena”. In David Bamman, Tatiana Magnitskaia, and Colleen Zaller, eds. Proceedings of the 30th Boston University Conference on Language Development. Somerville: Cascadilla Press, 653–664.
Ward, Gregory, Betty Birner, and Rodney Huddleston
2002 “Information Packaging”. In Rodney Huddleston, and Geoffrey K. Pullumet al.The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1363–1448.
White, Lydia
2011 “Second Language Acquisition at the Interfaces”. Lingua 1211: 577–590.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 18 may 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.