Year: 2019
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: This manuscript proposes a syntactic analysis of it-cleft sentences in English in dependency syntax.The connectivity effects of it-clefts are addressed in terms of the catena unit.A central claim is that despite the presence of two finite clauses, the matrix predicate of it-clefts, which is a catena, reaches into the embedded clause to include the primary predicate residing there.This means that despite the presence of two finite verbs, it-clefts are in fact mono-clausal in a central way.Given this essentially mono-clausal status of it-clefts, the widely discussed connectivity effects that appear in them are not surprising.
DOI: 10.18653/v1/w19-7706
Author: Timothy Osborne
Institution: Zhejiang University
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W2995021292