Clefting
Encyclopedia
A cleft sentence is a complex sentence
(one having a main clause and a dependent clause
) that has a meaning that could be expressed by a simple sentence
. Clefts typically put a particular constituent into focus. This focusing is often accompanied by a special intonation.
In English
, a cleft sentence can be constructed as follows:
where it is a cleft pronoun and X is usually a noun phrase
(although it can also be a prepositional phrase, and in some cases an adjectival or adverbial phrase). The focus is on X, or else on the subordinate clause or some element of it. For example:
Unfortunately, traditional accounts of cleft structures classify these according to the elements involved following English-centric analyses (such as wh-words, the pronoun
it, the quantifier all, and so on). This makes it difficult to conduct cross-linguistic investigations of clefts since these elements do not exist in other languages, which has led to a proposal for a revision of existing cleft taxonomy (see Calude 2009).
However, not all languages are so rich in cleft types as English, and some employ other means for focusing specific constituents, such as topicalization, word order
changes, focusing particles and so on (see Miller 1996). Cleftability in Language (2009) by Cheng Luo presents a cross-linguistic discussion of cleftability.
or empty element. The former analysis has come to be termed the "expletive" view, whereas the latter is referred to as the "extraposition" approach. Hedberg (2002) proposes a hybrid approach, combining ideas from both takes on the status of the cleft pronoun. She shows that it can have a range of scopes (from semantically void to full reference) depending on the context in which it is used.
Similarly controversial is the status of the subordinate clause, often termed the "cleft clause". While most would agree that the cleft clause in wh-clefts can be analysed as some kind of relative clause
(free or fused or headless), there is disagreement as to the exact nature of the relative. Traditionally, the wh-word in a cleft like What you need is a good holiday, pertaining to the relative What you need is understood to be the first constituent
of the relative clause, and function as its head
.
Bresnan and Grimshaw (1987) posit a different analysis. They suggest that the relative clause is headed (rather than headless), with wh-word being located outside the clause proper and functioning as its head. Miller (1996) also endorses this approach, citing cross-linguistic evidence that the wh-word function as indefinite deictics.
The cleft clause debate gets more complex with it-clefts, where researchers struggle to even agree as to the type of clause that is involved: the traditionalists claim it to be a relative clause (Huddleston and Pullum 2002), while others reject this on the basis of a lack of noun phrase antecedent(Quirk et al. 1985, Sornicola 1988, Miller 1999), as exemplified below:
Finally, the last element of a cleft is the cleft constituent. As mentioned earlier, the focused part of a cleft is typically a noun phrase, but may in fact, turn up to be just about anything:
The reason why information structure plays such an important role in the area of clefts is largely due to the fact that the organisation of information structure is tightly linked to the clefts' function as focusing tools used by speakers/writers to draw attention to salient parts of their message.
While it may be reasonable to assume that the variable of a cleft (that is, the material encoded by cleft clauses) may be typically GIVEN and its value (expressed by the cleft constituent) is NEW, it is not always so. Sometimes, neither element contains new information, as is in some demonstrative clefts, e.g., That is what I think and sometimes it is the cleft clause that contains the NEW part of the message, as in And that's when I got sick (Calude 2009). Finally, in some constructions, it is the equation between cleft clause and cleft constituent that brings about the newsworthy information, rather than any of the elements of the cleft themselves (Lambrecht 2001).
French
Without the capacity for stressed words based merely on pitch or on volume of articulation, structures of this kind are required in order to stress a certain element:
German
, Lowland Scots
and Scottish English
.
of the sentence.
In the examples in (1) and (2), the foci are in bold. The remaining portions of the cleft sentences in (1) and (2) are noun phrases that contain headless relative clause
s. (NB: Tagalog does not have an overt copula.)
This construction is also used for WH-questions
in Tagalog, when the WH-word
used in the question is either sino "who" or ano "what" , as illustrated in (3) and (4).
Complex sentence
A complex sentence is a sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.-Examples:* I ate the meal that you cooked....
(one having a main clause and a dependent clause
Dependent clause
In linguistics, a dependent clause is a clause that augments an independent clause with additional information, but which cannot stand alone as a sentence. Dependent clauses modify the independent clause of a sentence or serve as a component of it...
) that has a meaning that could be expressed by a simple sentence
Simple sentence
A simple sentence is a sentence structure that contains one independent clause and no dependent clauses.-Examples:*The runner jumped....
. Clefts typically put a particular constituent into focus. This focusing is often accompanied by a special intonation.
In English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, a cleft sentence can be constructed as follows:
- it + conjugated form of to be + X + subordinate clause
where it is a cleft pronoun and X is usually a noun phrase
Noun phrase
In grammar, a noun phrase, nominal phrase, or nominal group is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like word optionally accompanied by modifiers such as adjectives....
(although it can also be a prepositional phrase, and in some cases an adjectival or adverbial phrase). The focus is on X, or else on the subordinate clause or some element of it. For example:
- It's Joey (who) we're looking for.
- It's money that I love.
- It was from John that she heard the news.
- It was meeting Jim that really started me off on this new line of work.
Types
English is very rich in cleft constructions. Below are examples of other types of clefts found in English, though the list is not exhaustive (see Lambrecht 2001 for a comprehensive survey, Collins 1991 for an in-depth analysis of it-clefts and wh-clefts in English, and Calude 2009 for an investigation of clefts in spoken English).- It-cleft: It is Jaime for whom we are looking.
- Wh-cleft: What he wanted to buy was a Fiat.
- Reversed wh-cleft/Pseudo-cleft: A Fiat is what he wanted to buy.
- All-cleft: All he wanted to buy was a Fiat.
- Inferential cleft It is not that he loves her. It's just that he has a way with her that is different.
- There-cleft: And then there's a new house he wanted to build.
- If-because cleft: If he wants to be an actor it's because he wants to be famous.
Unfortunately, traditional accounts of cleft structures classify these according to the elements involved following English-centric analyses (such as wh-words, the pronoun
Pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun , such as, in English, the words it and he...
it, the quantifier all, and so on). This makes it difficult to conduct cross-linguistic investigations of clefts since these elements do not exist in other languages, which has led to a proposal for a revision of existing cleft taxonomy (see Calude 2009).
However, not all languages are so rich in cleft types as English, and some employ other means for focusing specific constituents, such as topicalization, word order
Word order
In linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the order of the syntactic constituents of a language, and how different languages can employ different orders. Correlations between orders found in different syntactic subdomains are also of interest...
changes, focusing particles and so on (see Miller 1996). Cleftability in Language (2009) by Cheng Luo presents a cross-linguistic discussion of cleftability.
Structural issues
The role of the cleft pronoun (it in the case of English) is controversial, and some believe it to be referential, while others treat it as a dummy pronounDummy pronoun
A dummy pronoun is a type of pronoun used in non-pro-drop languages, such as English....
or empty element. The former analysis has come to be termed the "expletive" view, whereas the latter is referred to as the "extraposition" approach. Hedberg (2002) proposes a hybrid approach, combining ideas from both takes on the status of the cleft pronoun. She shows that it can have a range of scopes (from semantically void to full reference) depending on the context in which it is used.
Similarly controversial is the status of the subordinate clause, often termed the "cleft clause". While most would agree that the cleft clause in wh-clefts can be analysed as some kind of relative clause
Relative clause
A relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun phrase, most commonly a noun. For example, the phrase "the man who wasn't there" contains the noun man, which is modified by the relative clause who wasn't there...
(free or fused or headless), there is disagreement as to the exact nature of the relative. Traditionally, the wh-word in a cleft like What you need is a good holiday, pertaining to the relative What you need is understood to be the first constituent
Constituent (linguistics)
In syntactic analysis, a constituent is a word or a group of words that functions as a single unit within a hierarchical structure. The analysis of constituent structure is associated mainly with phrase structure grammars, although dependency grammars also allow sentence structure to be broken down...
of the relative clause, and function as its head
Phrase structure rules
Phrase-structure rules are a way to describe a given language's syntax. They are used to break down a natural language sentence into its constituent parts namely phrasal categories and lexical categories...
.
Bresnan and Grimshaw (1987) posit a different analysis. They suggest that the relative clause is headed (rather than headless), with wh-word being located outside the clause proper and functioning as its head. Miller (1996) also endorses this approach, citing cross-linguistic evidence that the wh-word function as indefinite deictics.
The cleft clause debate gets more complex with it-clefts, where researchers struggle to even agree as to the type of clause that is involved: the traditionalists claim it to be a relative clause (Huddleston and Pullum 2002), while others reject this on the basis of a lack of noun phrase antecedent(Quirk et al. 1985, Sornicola 1988, Miller 1999), as exemplified below:
- It was because he was ill (that) we decided to return.
- It was in September that he first found out about it.
- It was with great reluctance that Maria accepted the invitation.
Finally, the last element of a cleft is the cleft constituent. As mentioned earlier, the focused part of a cleft is typically a noun phrase, but may in fact, turn up to be just about anything:
- Prepositional phrase: It was by foot that he went there.
- Adverbial phrase: It was greedily and speedily that Homer Simpson drank his beer.
- Non-finite clause: It is to address a far-reaching problem that Oxfam is setting out to do.
- Gerund: It could be going home early or slacking off work that the boss reacted to.
- Adverbial clause: It was because she was so lonely all the time that drove her to move out.
Information structure
Clefts have been described as "equative" (Halliday 1976), "stative" (Delin and Oberlander 1995) and as "variable-value pairs", where the cleft constituent gives a variable expressed by the cleft clause (Herriman 2004, Declerck 1994, Halliday 1994). A major area of interest with regard to cleft constructions involves their information structure. The concept of "information structure" relates to the type of information encoded in a particular utterance, that can be one of these three:- NEW information: things that the speaker/writer expects their hearer/reader might not already know
- GIVEN information: information that the speaker/writer expects the hearer/reader may be familiar with
- INFERRABLE information: information that the speaker/writer may expect the hearer/reader to be able to infer either from world knowledge, or from previous discourse
The reason why information structure plays such an important role in the area of clefts is largely due to the fact that the organisation of information structure is tightly linked to the clefts' function as focusing tools used by speakers/writers to draw attention to salient parts of their message.
While it may be reasonable to assume that the variable of a cleft (that is, the material encoded by cleft clauses) may be typically GIVEN and its value (expressed by the cleft constituent) is NEW, it is not always so. Sometimes, neither element contains new information, as is in some demonstrative clefts, e.g., That is what I think and sometimes it is the cleft clause that contains the NEW part of the message, as in And that's when I got sick (Calude 2009). Finally, in some constructions, it is the equation between cleft clause and cleft constituent that brings about the newsworthy information, rather than any of the elements of the cleft themselves (Lambrecht 2001).
FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
Without the capacity for stressed words based merely on pitch or on volume of articulation, structures of this kind are required in order to stress a certain element:
- "C'est Jean que je cherche" (It's Jean whom I'm looking for)
- "C'est à Paris que je vis" (It's in Paris where I live)
GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
- "Das ist genau, was ich dachte" (That is exactly what I thought.)
- "Spanien ist nicht, wohin ich gehen wollte" (Spain is not where I wanted to go.)
Scottish Gaelic
The construction is quite frequent in Scottish Gaelic, more than in English, but this sometimes carries over into Highland EnglishHighland English
Highland English is the variety of Scottish English spoken by many in the Scottish Highlands. It is more strongly influenced by Gaelic than other forms of Scottish English. Island English is the variety spoken as a second language by native Gaelic speakers in the Outer Hebrides...
, Lowland Scots
Scots language
Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
and Scottish English
Scottish English
Scottish English refers to the varieties of English spoken in Scotland. It may or may not be considered distinct from the Scots language. It is always considered distinct from Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic language....
.
- "Se Iain a tha thu a' lorg" (It is Iain/John whom you are seeking)
- "Se latha breagha a tha ann an diugh" (It is a beautiful day that we are having today, literally "it is a beautiful day that is in it today")
Tagalog
Cleft sentences are copula constructions in which the focused element serves as the predicatePredicate (grammar)
There are two competing notions of the predicate in theories of grammar. Traditional grammar tends to view a predicate as one of two main parts of a sentence, the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies. The other understanding of predicates is inspired from work in predicate calculus...
of the sentence.
| (1) | Ang | babae | ang | bumili | ng | bahay. |
| woman | .bought | house | ||||
| "The (one who) bought the house was the woman." | ||||||
| (2) | Si | Juan | ang | binigyan | ni | Pedro | ng | pera. |
| Juan | gave. | Pedro | money | |||||
| "The (one to whom) Pedro had given money was Juan." | ||||||||
| (or: "The (one who) was given money to by Pedro was Juan.") | ||||||||
In the examples in (1) and (2), the foci are in bold. The remaining portions of the cleft sentences in (1) and (2) are noun phrases that contain headless relative clause
Relative clause
A relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun phrase, most commonly a noun. For example, the phrase "the man who wasn't there" contains the noun man, which is modified by the relative clause who wasn't there...
s. (NB: Tagalog does not have an overt copula.)
This construction is also used for WH-questions
Wh-questions
Wh-questions may refer to:*In linguistics, a question that makes use of interrogative words *In journalism, the Five Ws...
in Tagalog, when the WH-word
Interrogative word
In linguistics, an interrogative word is a function word used for the item interrupted in an information statement. Interrogative words are sometimes called wh-words because most of English interrogative words start with wh-...
used in the question is either sino "who" or ano "what" , as illustrated in (3) and (4).
| (3) | Sino | ang | bumili | ng | bahay? |
| who. | .bought | house | |||
| "Who bought the house?" | |||||
| (or: "Who was the (one who) bought the house?") | |||||
| (4) | Ano | ang | ibinigay | ni | Pedro | kay | Juan? |
| what | .gave | Pedro | Juan | ||||
| "What did Pedro give to Juan?" | |||||||
| (or: "What was the (thing that) was given to Juan by Pedro?") | |||||||