Publications
Publication details [#54753]
Delahunty, Gerald and Andreea S. Calude. 2011. Inferentials in spoken English. Pragmatics 21 (3) : 307–340. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Keywords
Language as a subject
Place, Publisher
International Pragmatics Association
Journal DOI
10.1075/prag
Annotation
Using a corpus study of examples from spoken New Zealand English, this study offers a detailed analysis of the formal and discursive characteristics of several sub-types of inferentials (positive, negative, as if and like inferentials). Notwithstanding their apparent formal differences from the prototypical cleft, inferentials are all the same best analysed as a type of cleft. It is demonstrated how similar the contextualized interpretations of clefts and inferentials are and how these make up a function of their lexis and syntax.