Pseudo-cleft Sentences Research Articles

Does prosody contribute to the expression of the dialogism of the utterance?

Does prosody contribute to the expression of the dialogism of the utterance?

A Stylistic Study of Patterns of fronting and Postponing in Charles Dickens's Hard Times

Varying sentence length and patterns results in a natural , fluid form ofwriting . Writing should be pleasing to readers . If all of the sentences follow thesame pattern , however , the writing and rhythm become boring and dull .Creating a variety of sentence patterns not only holds a reader’s interest , which ,after all , is the purpose of writing , but it also reflects the mind’s ability to thinkcreatively and complexly . There are many options to change the simplesentences into more sophisticated sentences . Therefore , this paper is devoted toanalyzes the main marked structures of fronting and postposing in Hard Times;written by Charles Dickens in 1854.These structures are passive voice , left-dislocation , cleft sentences , Extraposition , existential sentences , pseudo-cleftsentences , and reversed — pseudo cleft sentences .It aims at discovering thestylistic realization of these structures and their coincidence with the importantevents in the novel, especially certain specific communicative implications canbe revealed by these structures. So instead of having chosen independentexamples coming from a computational corpus , we decide to analyze thesestructures in a novel written by Charles Dickens . With the analysis of thecorpus of examples, it will be proved that the use of these anomalous syntacticprocesses points out a clear contrast with the normal order of the Englishsentence i.e., these syntactic processes clearly break SVO

A Comparative Study of Focus Constructions in Chinese and Korean: Focusing on Cleft Sentence

By comparing the representative cleft sentences in Chinese and Korean, this paper explores the cleft sentences of “shi......de”, the pseudo-cleft sentences of “...deshi...” and the cleft sentences of Korean “kes eun” corresponding relationship. Firstly, this paper studies the grammatical characteristics of “shi” and “de”, which are the constituent elements of Chinese cleft sentences, and their function of focus marking as focus constructions. Then, compare it with the Korean “kes eun” cleft sentence, and examine the similarities and differences of the two language cleft sentences. And then explore the relationship between the internal structure of focus constructions the two languages. Finally, the inner relationship between the two languages a t the grammatical level is explored to provide a theoretical basis for the realization of universal grammar.

Va a ser que no

Abstract This study seeks to gain a better insight into the origin and expansion of the construction <va a ser que sí/no > (lit. goes to be that yes/no) in Peninsular Spanish. We argue that this construction derives from the use of the periphrastic future construction <ir a ‘go to’ + inf> in a pseudo-cleft sentence whose subject is a deictic element or an element that conveys the speaker’s attitudinal assessment of the propositional content expressed in the attribute, a complement que-clause. The etymological structure evolves through a process that formally implies the suppression of the explicit subject and the fusion of the components va a ser que leading to the conventionalization of refutative and assertive values. To demonstrate this directionality, we examine recent stages of change and develop syntactic and semantic-pragmatic arguments grounded in a data-based approach.

현대중국어 준분열문 ‘S+VP+的是+NP’ 격식 연구

현대중국어 준분열문 ‘S+VP+的是+NP’ 격식 연구

Negation of subject with nominal modifiers in Sesotho

This article examines constituent negation in Sesotho, focussing on negation of the subject with nominal modifiers of matrix clauses. Sesotho is an African language that falls under the Bantu family. Unlike English, which makes use of negative elements to negate clausal constituents, such as no in no children have eaten , Sesotho does not have a direct means of negating a clausal constituent. The central aim of this article is to demonstrate how Sesotho employs negative clauses, such as negative cleft sentences, negative pseudo-cleft sentences and negative clauses, together with the marker ho , to realise constituent negation. This article will also argue that, in terms of Haegemen’s (1995) Neg-Criterion, Sesotho does not have non-negative operators that could constitute the realisation of local or constituent negation.

The Effects Pf Explicit Grammar Instruction On The Leaming Of Simple And Complex Grammar Rules

This study examines the effects of explicit instruction on learning simple and complex rules. While the target simple rule underlies the optional inversion of subject and verb following fronting of adverb of place, the two target complex rules underlie the formation of pseudo-cleft sentences headed by ‘where’ and ‘what’. Difference in the instructional condition depends on the presence or absence of explicit grammatical information. The results indicate that subjects in the explicit grammar condition outperformed the subjects in the implicit condition in both the simple and complex rules. These results support previous findings that explicit instruction leads to gains in learning second / foreign language grammatical items.

REFLECTIONS ON THE MAIN SYNTACTIC PROCESSES OF THEMATIZATION IN ENGLISH IN ALAN PATON’S PLAY SPONONO

This paper will analyse the main marked syntactic structures of thematization in English in the play Sponono, written by Alan Paton in 1965. The analysis will point out that due to the use of these thematization processes in the play, i.e. cleft sentence, pseudo-cleft sentence, topicalization and passive, the author emphasizes the feelings and thoughts of the main characters in the play. The analysis will also make clear that the examples of the structures under analysis are used in situations of climax and the main reason for the author to use them is to highlight the social situation that surrounds the play: the apartheid period in South Africa. The paper will discuss how Alan Paton creates a social reality throughout the recurrent use of these processes. In the same way, these syntactic processes contribute to the vividness of the play. The social situation of this period in South Africa has very particular characteristics that the author tries to point out and reproduce with the processes of thematization he uses recurrently during the whole play. The analysis of the corpus following the theory of Systemic Functional Grammar will be helpful to understand the relationships between language and culture and language and situation.

What Sluicing Comes from in Korean is Pseudo-cleft

This paper investigates the sluicing construction in Korean. Two approaches have competed for the source of the so-called sluicing construction in Korean; one follows the wh-movement followed by TP deletion analysis suggested by Takahashi (1994) and the other follows a reduced cleft analysis suggested by Nishiyama et al. (1996) and Kuwabara (1996) among many others. I will follow neither of the analyses suggested in Japanese. Meanwhile, I will provide four empirical pieces of evidence why Korean sluicing cannot be derived in the analogous way as in English. The possibility narrows down to the cleft analysis. However, I will show that even cleft cannot be the derivational source for sluicing. I propose that it is actually derived from only a pseudo-cleft sentence.

Aspectos da categoria foco no português de Angola

Nosso trabalho tem como objetivo apontar a categoria sintático-discursiva foco no português de Angola partindo de uma noção e tipologia específicas para essa categoria. A partir de uma interface morfossintaxe/discursiva, consideramos as sentenças clivadas e as pseudoclivadas como veiculadoras de foco por apresentarem uma leitura especificacional, em que há a obrigatoriedade de predicação de um valor a uma variável, disparando as leituras de ‘contrastividade’, ‘exclusividade’ e ‘exaustividade’, próprias do constituinte focalizado. Apresentamos, portanto, uma análise para o foco no português angolano, a partir da tipologia para as sentenças clivadas e pseudoclivadas realizadas com os estudos do português brasileiro. As sentenças tradicionalmente classificadas como ‘interrogativas clivadas sem cópula’ recebem, em nosso trabalho, uma proposta de análise em que consideramos esse tipo de sentença fora do âmbito das clivadas. Consideramos que o elemento fronteado que recebe a leitura de foco é seguido de uma partícula focalizadora apontando para um foco controlado gramaticalmente.

The role of prosodic boundaries in comprehension of Korean pseudo-cleft sentences

A large prosodic boundary triggers, in general, a high attachment of an ambiguously attached phrase (e.g., Susie learned that Bill called // on Monday). The informative boundary hypothesis (IBH), however, claims that such an effect of a local prosodic boundary is neutralized by the presence of another boundary (e.g., Susie learned // that Bill called // on Monday). According to the IBH, it is not the absolute size of the later boundary (here, pre-PP boundary) but its size relative to any earlier boundary before a constituent containing only the lower attachment site. Since the IBH implies nothing about the interpretation of an ambiguous phrase whose attachment sites appear later, the current study, as an extension of the IBH, investigates whether the effectiveness of a prosodic boundary can be determined by its size relative to a relevant subsequent boundary. The results showed that the interpretation of the sentence-initial subject NP was affected by the absolute size of the post-NP boundary, but the later boundary type had nothing to do with the interpretation. This provides further evidence that prosodic information is processed in an incremental fashion (left-to-right) and perceivers tend to impose prosodic structures as fast as possible.

Reflections on some syntactical processes and their communicative implications in two short stories written by Julia Álvarez : My English and A Genetics of Justice

Our hypothesis in this article is that Julia Álvarez chooses several anomalous syntactical structures in English in the short stories My English and A Genetics of Justice to point out certain facts or certain feelings that are important in her life. In this sense we can say that there is a relationship between the use of words or structures and the author’s ideology. This article is within the framework of Systemic Functional Grammar for two main reasons: a) the importance of context for the analysis of the main syntactical processes of thematization and postponement in English and b) because it studies language in relation to society and analyses the main reasons for choosing between some linguistic forms or others, fact that is always determined for the function that those linguistic forms have in society. The main purpose of this article is to show that presenting ideas using certain syntactical structures in English (existential sentences, extraposition, pseudo-cleft sentences, passive, cleft sentences, reversed pseudo cleft and left dislocation) is not at random because those structures have specific communicative implications, as we will see when we analyse the examples in the two short stories we have chosen.

Compléments ne complètent-ils que le verbe et le verbe n’est-il complété que par des compléments?

This paper chiefly deals with the notions of verb ruling, copulative complement and sentence adverbials, presented within the scope of a contrastive approach between English and French grammatical terminologies. In the theorical model of grammar proposed by Noam Chomsky, the traditional concept of the government of an object by a verb has been extended to other linguistic units in a sentence. Here we propose to reintroduce the old and apparently obsolete notion of regimen - régime in French grammar - in order to isolate a type of government in which the verbs strictly require and determine the linguistic units depending on its occurrence. What is not régime du verbe is called «complément», including those components which complete copulative verbs, in accordance with the English use of complement, corresponding to the traditional attribut in the French grammatical terminology. Complements are divided into essential, accessory and associated (i.e., associés). The first ones are required but not governed by the verb. The second ones depend on the verb but are neither required nor governed by it. The third ones are sentence adverbials, simply associated with the predicate, particularly when they indicate either the writer’s/speaker’s attitude to the reader/listener or their attitude to the topic at hand. This new organization of the components which form or complete the predicate is supported by a set of nine grammatical tests to be thoroughly demonstrated at the end of the paper (test of negation scope, focalization, conversion to pseudo-cleft sentence, topicality, embedding of a relative clause, interrogation, covariance with the subject of the verb, passivity process, selection of prepositions).

Compléments ne complètent-ils que le verbe et le verbe n’est-il complété que par des compléments?

This paper chiefly deals with the notions of verb ruling, copulative complement and sentence adverbials, presented within the scope of a contrastive approach between English and French grammatical terminologies. In the theorical model of grammar proposed by Noam Chomsky, the traditional concept of the government of an object by a verb has been extended to other linguistic units in a sentence. Here we propose to reintroduce the old and apparently obsolete notion of regimen - régime in French grammar - in order to isolate a type of government in which the verbs strictly require and determine the linguistic units depending on its occurrence. What is not régime du verbe is called «complément», including those components which complete copulative verbs, in accordance with the English use of complement, corresponding to the traditional attribut in the French grammatical terminology. Complements are divided into essential, accessory and associated (i.e., associés). The first ones are required but not governed by the verb. The second ones depend on the verb but are neither required nor governed by it. The third ones are sentence adverbials, simply associated with the predicate, particularly when they indicate either the writer’s/speaker’s attitude to the reader/listener or their attitude to the topic at hand. This new organization of the components which form or complete the predicate is supported by a set of nine grammatical tests to be thoroughly demonstrated at the end of the paper (test of negation scope, focalization, conversion to pseudo-cleft sentence, topicality, embedding of a relative clause, interrogation, covariance with the subject of the verb, passivity process, selection of prepositions).

Sobre formas de ambigüedad de las oraciones escindidas: sintaxis y discurso

This paper focuses on the forms of ambiguity in cleft and pseudocleft constructions. To account for the fact that the ambiguity –whichever it is- in cleft or pseudocleft sentences is only outwardly, I argue by means of two basic lines: semantic properties and pragmatic arguments. In addition, the opposition ‘referential / predicative’ proves to be decisive on this matter. Moreover, this work demonstrates that the be/ser verb of ‘discontinuos’ It-cleft sentences with that is not ambiguous but just one copulative verb.

'All I'm Saying Is ...' The Correlation of Form and Function in Pseudo-cleft Sentences

'All I'm Saying Is ...' The Correlation of Form and Function in Pseudo-cleft Sentences

On understood subjects in pseudocleft sentences in English

On understood subjects in pseudocleft sentences in English

Grade school children's listening and reading comprehension of complex sentences

Abstract Two experiments examined the roles of world knowledge and syntactic knowledge in grade school children's comprehension of spoken and written complex sentences. Experiment 1 tested 128 second, third, fourth, and sixth graders’ reading and listening comprehension of active and passive, cleft and pseudocleft sentences with relative clauses. Statistically significant effects were found for reading ability, sentence condition (involving mode, voice, and whether or not sentence meanings were consistent with expectation), and reading ability X sentence condition. Subjects used and trusted syntactic information mostly with spoken sentences; only above average readers were able to do so in reading tasks, and then only with active sentences. In Experiment 2, 72 second graders were given training in attending to syntactic details, training in entertaining interpretations contrary to world knowledge, or practice. Some characteristics of Experiment 1's above average readers were duplicated with all three trea...

The roles of expectation and syntactic knowledge in second and fourth graders' comprehension of complex sentences.

Second and fourth graders were tested, using a picture selection test, for comprehension of complex sentences. Pictures were withheld from subjects until after they showed that they understood the input sentence. Sentences were clefts and pseudoclefts with relative clauses minus markers and auxiliaries. Sentences were either passive or active and their noun-verb-noun relations were either according to children's expectations or contrary to expectations. Fourth graders performed significantly better than second graders; actives were significantly easier than passives; and sentences that were according to expectation (typicals) were significantly easier than sentences that were contrary to expectation (atypicals). There was no significant difference in performances on cleft and pseudocleft sentences. Comparisons were made that investigated the interplay of the two determinants of difficulty (sentence voice and typicalness of NVN relations). Typical passives were not significantly easier than atypical passives; nor were typical actives significantly easier than atypical actives. In addition, active atypicals were not significantly easier than passive atypicals; nor were active typicals significantly easier than passive typicals. However, one comparison of combinations of syntactic and expectancy related factors was significant: that which compared passive atypicals with active typicals. When both the syntactic and the expectancy-related determinants of difficulty are in phase, there is a significant difference in second and fourth graders' understanding of cleft and pseudocleft sentences with relative clauses minus markers and auxiliaries. It was concluded that the interplay of both syntactic and non-syntactic factors must be considered in any characterization of children's sentence comprehension ability.

Syntactic presupposition in sentence comprehension

Two experiments investigated the role of syntactic presupposition in sentence comprehension. In Experiment I subjects verified cleft, pseudocleft and factive complement sentences with respect to preceding context paragraphs, which contradicted either the assertion or the presupposition of the target sentence. Subjects took significantly longer to verify sentences with false presuppositions than sentences with false assertions. In Experiment II subjects verified cleft and pseudocleft sentences with respect to subsequently presented pictures. Once again, verification times for sentences with false presuppositions were significantly longer than verification times for sentences with false assertions. It was argued that these findings are more adequately explained by a “structural” hypothesis, than in terms of strategies designed to locate given and new information.