Cleft and Pseudo-Cleft Constructions in English (Theoretical Linguistics)

Cleft and Pseudo-Cleft Constructions in English is a corpus-based investigation of cleft and pseudo-cleft constructions in contemporary English. It is the first study of such constructions to fully explore the view--now widespread among linguists--that any attempt to satisfactorily explain their structural and functional characteristics must refer to concepts directly related to their use in communication. Peter Collins states that it is necessary to invoke such discourse-relevant notions as information, topic and theme. By using a standard written corpus and a standard spoken corpus of British English, the author is able to analyze systematically the discourse-functions of clefts and pseudo-clefts, provide information on the frequency of these constructions in different genres, and prevent the 'tidying-up' found in examples devised by the linguist. Cleft and Pseudo-Cleft Constructions in English is an excellent study of the interrelations of grammar, pragmatics, and discourse, and a persuasive illustration of the importance of corpus-based approaches to linguistic description.