Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Editors
Elizabeth Closs Traugott
Bernd Kortmann
De Gruyter Mouton
The English It-Cleft
A Constructional Account
and a Diachronic Investigation
by
Amanda L. Patten
De Gruyter Mouton
ISBN 978-3-11-027780-7
e-ISBN 978-3-11-027952-8
ISSN 1434-3452
ALP
Newcastle, 2012
Contents
Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
It-clefts are interesting for a number of reasons. For one thing, they have a
non-standard structure which appears not to conform to the general rules of
the language. If we take a look at the example in (1), we can see that it-
clefts have four main components: the introductory pronominal it, a form of
the copular verb be, a postcopular phrasal element and a sentence-final
clause.
From this example, we can see that (for the linguist) the it-clefts syntactic
configuration is difficult to make sense of. The that-clause is structured
internally like a restrictive relative: it contains a gap (in subject position)
which corresponds to the constituent that precedes the clause. However,
proper names, such as Frank, are full noun phrases. As such, they cannot
normally be modified by restrictive relative clauses. So how does this
clause relate to the postcopular element, if at all? Can we really call this a
restrictive relative clause? If so, what does it modify? If not, are we dealing
with a clausal structure that is unique to the it-cleft? Equally problematic is
the role of initial it. Is this an expletive dummy subject and if so, why is it
there? Does it operate as a syntactic placemarker and if so, for which ele-
ment? Or is the constituent it related in a different way to other elements in
the sentence?
In addition, it-clefts have a number of unusual semantic, pragmatic and
discourse-functional properties. These are particularly interesting since it is
not immediately clear which elements in the cleft structure contribute to the
meaning of the construction. For example, the it-cleft is a focusing con-
struction. The primary informational content is placed in the syntactically
marked postcopular focal position and is often given primary stress, see
2 Introduction and background
(2).1 However, it is not at all obvious why this particular syntactic configu-
ration should be chosen as a focusing device. Is this its primary function?
1. I use the term focus to refer to a unit of information structure where the asser-
tion differs from the presupposition (see Chapter 4, Section 1.2.1). Although fo-
cus is often marked by intonation, Lambrecht (1994: 208) observes that accent
placement and focus marking are not to be equated. Where focus marking is
unclear or ambiguous in my examples, I make use of small capitals to indicate
the marking of focus by intonation.
An outline of the project 3
I discuss these two approaches and the analyses that result from them in
Section 2. Essentially, justification for the first approach comes from the
truth-conditional equivalence between it-clefts and simple subject-predicate
sentences. From this perspective, it-clefts are viewed primarily as a means
of marking focus syntactically. The second approach, on the other hand,
builds on the fact that the it-cleft is a copular construction with a specifica-
tional meaning. So which is the better approach? The answer to this ques-
tion depends upon what we think is the primary function of it-clefts and
asking which perspective can best explain the range of properties that it-
clefts display.
There are also different varieties of it-cleft which are sometimes
regarded as separate structures. One domain of variability involves the
category of elements that can occur in the postcopular (focal) position.
Although, most frequently, the focal element is a noun phrase, it-clefts
allow a range of other constituents to occur as the complement of be, such
as the prepositional phrase in (6). So should these examples be analysed in
the same way as those with nominal foci or do they require a separate
analysis? Can the sentence-final clause still be analysed as a restrictive
relative if the immediate antecedent is not nominal?
How does this structure relate to the specificational it-cleft, if at all? Can
proverbial sentences, such as (9), really be called clefts? It-clefts also seem
to resemble extraposed sentences, such as (12). For instance, on the surface,
the it-cleft in (11) differs only in that it contains a gap in the sentence-final
clause. Do it-clefts share more than just an apparent likeness with this
extraposed structure?
The analyses resulting from this approach assume that the focal element in
it-clefts enters into a predication relationship with the information in the
sentence-final clause; this accounts for their truth-conditional equivalence
with simple subject-predicate sentences. From this, it follows that the initial
element it and (in most accounts) the copular verb be are semantically
empty, serving only to introduce, or foreground the postcopular element.
As a result, in the cleft literature, these analyses are referred to cumula-
tively as the expletive approach; common to all such accounts is the
assumption that the initial pronoun it does not play an essential role in the
interpretation of the sentence.
An early example of an expletive account is detailed by Jespersen
(1937: 8389). He suggests that it-clefts are syntactically identical to their
noncopular counterparts except for the addition of a lesser subject and
verb and a connective word. So, for instance, the elements it, be and that
in (15) are semantically empty, with Frank and complained entering into a
predication relationship. The example is formalized using Jespersens nota-
tion.2
2. The use of square brackets in Jespersens (1937: 86) formalism indicates that
this information is extraposed relative to the sentence proper. Lower case s
and v indicate the lesser (i.e. expletive) subject and verb and 3 c represents a
tertiary connective.
An overview of the literature on cleft sentences 7
the sentence-final clause at deep structure, while for Williams (1980) and
Heggie (1988) these components are coindexed at the level of surface
structure by a predication rule. Chomsky (1977) claims that the it-cleft is a
type of topicalization construction involving wh-movement. The relation-
ship between the postcopular element and the sentence-final clause is there-
fore akin to that between topic and comment. For Delahunty (1982, 1984)
on the other hand, these components enter into a predication relation at the
level of logical form. Delahunty converts the sentence-final clause into a
function (via lambda abstraction) which takes the postcopular element as its
argument; after a reduction operation, the Logical Structure of cleft sen-
tences is equivalent to that of their noncopular counterparts.
Although they use different mechanisms to achieve it, these authors
assume that it-clefts and truth-conditionally synonymous sentences share a
level of representation. Common to all of these accounts then is the treat-
ment of the initial pronoun it as an expletive element, the analysis of the
sentence-final clause as being in some way related to the postcopular
element, and the understanding that the primary function of it-clefts is as a
focusing device.
3. My use of the term th-cleft is from Collins (1991a, 1991b). This term is used in
a different sense in Ball (1977) and Hedberg (1990, 2000) to refer to cleft sen-
tences introduced by demonstratives, such as this or that.
8 Introduction and background
Each of these examples has the function of identifying (or specifying) the
postcopular element grape soda as matching a certain description. Like the
it-cleft in (16), pseudoclefts also contain clausal elements. However, in (17)
and (18) these clauses are in subject position. This suggests that the it-cleft
is an extraposition construction: the sentence-final clause is not connected
to the focal element; instead, it is related in some way to the initial it.
Again, an early example of such an approach is provided by Jespersen
(1927). Prior to his (1937) account, outlined above, he proposed a trans-
position analysis of it-clefts. In the following passage, Jespersen suggests
that it-clefts are paraphrased most closely by other specificational copular
constructions. Here the sentence-final clause is analysed as a restrictive
relative, modifying the constituent it. He notes,
it is not really the antecedent (or what looks like the antecedent) that is
restricted by a relative clause. When we say it is the wife that decides or
it was the Colonel I was looking for what we mean is really the wife is
the deciding person and the Colonel was the man I was looking for: the
relative clause thus might be said to belong rather to it than to the
predicative following after it is (Jespersen 1927: 88)
(see Prince 1978; Collins 1991a). As a result, the range of non-nominal foci
and the ability to express hearer-new information are properties which are
not inherited from the wider specificational construction (see Chapter 5).
This begs the question, where did these more idiosyncratic properties come
from?
In Chapter 7, I conduct a diachronic investigation, using data (from four
historical English parsed corpora) which spans from Old English to Modern
English. I find that the it-cleft occurs with an increasingly wide range of
foci and appears in a greater variety of discourse contexts over time. These
idiosyncratic properties of the it-cleft are therefore shown to be an outcome
of the constructions historical development. In Chapter 8, I ask how and
why the it-cleft construction has developed in this particular way. I inter-
pret the changes to the function and use of the specificational it-cleft as an
example of schematization. On this account, novel instances are formed by
extension from the prototype, overriding inheritance from more basic
patterns. As these new types of instance become more conventional, the it-
cleft, in turn, becomes a more abstract and schematic construction. The it-
clefts construction-specific development is therefore shaped by its proto-
type, which differs in subtle ways from that of other specificational copular
constructions. I exemplify this with a short comparison of it-clefts and wh-
clefts.
The historical evidence therefore demonstrates that the it-cleft was once
fully motivated by inheritance from the language system. Over time, the
construction has acquired a range of idiosyncratic properties via conven-
tional pathways of change both fossilization and schematization. There-
fore, while these construction-specific characteristics are not inherited from
more general patterns of correspondence, they are nevertheless shown to be
motivated by general principles of language change. A more comprehen-
sive overview of usage-based approaches to constructional change is pro-
vided in Chapter 2.
With the inclusion of a substantial diachronic component, the present
study is able to contribute to the somewhat limited literature on the history
of the English it-cleft. Until very recently, Balls (1991, 1994a) work has
dominated the literature on this topic (see Filppula 2009; C. Johansson
2008; Los 2009; Los and Komen forthcoming; Patten 2010; Prez-Guerra
1999, forthcoming for more recent contributions). However, in Chapters 6,
7 and 8, I present a very different account of the specificational it-clefts
origin and subsequent diachronic development. The approach outlined here
is unique in that it reviews the historical data in light of an extraposition
(from-NP) account of it-clefts. As I explain, the historical evidence actually
14 Introduction and background
5. Methodology
This book examines the English it-cleft from both a synchronic and dia-
chronic perspective. In the synchronic part, I rely largely on examples that
are either invented or taken from the literature. I have chosen to exemplify
my discussion in this way for several reasons. First, I am engaging with a
literature where the use of invented examples is common practice. Second,
since the issues surrounding the data are often complex, I have made an
effort to keep examples brief and to choose examples that highlight the
relevant features without requiring unnecessary explication. Furthermore,
in these chapters, the focus of my discussion is on the prototypical it-cleft
subtype. As a result, I am not always interested in detailing qualitative dif-
ferences between individual instances.
However, where my concern is to highlight variation in the it-clefts
structure or to demonstrate aspects of use, I provide attested examples from
the British component of the International Corpus of English (ICE-GB),
extracted using the corpus utility program ICECUP 3.1. A search on the
CLEFTIT annotation produces an output of 430 hits within 422 text units.
From this data, I discounted incomplete tokens, tag questions and truncated
clefts (see Chapter 4, Section 1.1 for an analysis of such structures), as well
as a handful of instances which appear to have been mistakenly tagged as
it-clefts.4 This amounts to a data-set of 404 tokens, from which frequency
counts and proportions are measured. For more comprehensive quantitative
studies of present-day it-clefts in the ICE-GB see Gmez-Gonzlez (2004,
2007), Hasselgrd (2004), and Nelson (1997).
4. For example, in the utterance below, work is not specified as the thing she most
enjoys; instead, working full-time as a nursing auxiliary (referred to by it) is
described as enjoyable work. This is not an it-cleft, despite its mark-up in the
ICE-GB.
(i) At the time of the accident she was thirty-nine years old, married, with
children, and working full-time as a nursing auxiliary at the Pembury
Hospital near Tunbridge Wells. It was work which she much enjoyed a
and to which she was fully committed. (S2A-062 008, Legal Presentation)
Methodology 15
1. See Nunberg, Wasow, and Sag (1994) for a detailed discussion of the differ-
ences between the concepts of conventionality and noncompositionality.
18 A model of language structure and language change
2. Hudsons Word Grammar (1990, 2007) also adopts a default inheritance model
of grammatical knowledge. Word Grammar shares much with constructional
theories in that it assumes that the syntax of language is comprised of a very
large number of constructions, each with its own peculiar interactions with
other constructions and with lexical items (Hudson 2007: 153). The difference
is that Word Grammar focuses on the (more or less specific types of) depen-
dency relations between the words which make up these constructions (Hudson
2007: 156).
20 A model of language structure and language change
3. For a recent critique discussing the limits of constructional inheritance, see Sag,
Boas, and Kay (2012).
22 A model of language structure and language change
new and existing types of instance coexist, the speaker generalizes over
them to create a new level of abstraction, which resolves the former conflict
between the category and its new membership. This can, in turn, have re-
percussions for yet higher-order constructions (or categories) in the taxon-
omy, as existing schemas become more abstract in order to accommodate
(or sanction) the new lower-level constructions. This type of constructional
change therefore proceeds upwards throughout the hierarchy, leading to the
creation of new constructions and the reconfiguration of existing ones. As
Goldberg (2006: 62) observes, we constantly parcel out meaning, form
abstractions, and generalize over the instances we hear. This kind of con-
structional change is thus both gradual (proceeding in incremental steps)
and directional.
For historical linguists who accept a constructional model of language
structure, this type of constructional change constitutes a reimagining of the
well-attested directional change of grammaticalization. Although this label
traditionally applies to simple, atomic elements as they become more gram-
matical over time, such items are also regarded as constructions on this
model, since they are also symbolic units of form and meaning. From this,
it follows that changes which apply to substantive, simple constructions
should also affect more schematic and complex constructions. In other
words, if lexical items can grammaticalize, larger, less substantive con-
structions should also be subject to grammaticalization (Trousdale 2008a:
3334).
Assuming a constructional model of language structure, the lexicon and
the inventory of grammatical constructions are not separate components;
instead, they exist along a syntax-lexicon continuum, which ranges from the
most schematic and general constructions to fully substantive, unproductive
patterns. Thus, on this model, the cline from lexical to grammatical status is
re-envisaged as a hierarchy from more substantive to more schematic con-
structions. Within the framework of construction grammar, grammaticali-
zation is therefore a process of schematization, in which the construction
becomes a more abstract, higher-level category and its internal composition
becomes less fixed. As Trousdale (2008b: 170171) comments, The more
schematic the construction, the more productive it will be (thus such con-
structions become aligned with what is usually called syntax and pro-
ductive morphology).
In many ways, usage-based construction grammars are ideally suited for
providing a theory from which to study grammaticalization phenomena. As
we have seen, the hierarchical network is able to both represent and account
for these directional changes (see also Traugott 2007; Trousdale 2008a;
24 A model of language structure and language change
In this section, I briefly summarize how I make use of the various concepts
of usage-based construction grammar (introduced above) in my analysis of
the English it-cleft construction. I go on to highlight two important ways in
which my approach to cleft and copular constructions differs from much of
the relevant literature on this topic.
As we saw in Chapter 1, the it-cleft is a specialized linguistic pattern, in
that much of its structure and use cannot be predicted from highly general
rules. It is therefore well-suited to treatment within a constructional frame-
work. Nevertheless, in the following pages, I show that the it-cleft is also a
motivated construction. By placing the it-cleft in a hierarchy of copular
constructions, I show that many of the it-clefts properties are inherited
from a larger specificational copular construction, which is itself a mis-
match structure. In this way, the constructional framework helps us to iden-
tify generalizations, albeit often at a much more local level in the hierarchy.
I then go on to explain the it-clefts remaining idiosyncratic properties
by appealing to historical evidence. I show that the diachronic development
of the it-cleft construction involves both fossilization and schematization;
that is, the it-cleft preserves properties which were originally inherited from
once productive patterns and has acquired new types of instance over time.
As the coerced interpretations found in these new mismatch constructs are
conventionalized, the it-cleft gradually develops a range of new functions
and ultimately becomes a more schematic and productive construction.
At a more fundamental level, my analysis is shaped by the assumptions
of construction grammar in two further ways. First, since the form-function
mapping is internal to the construction on this model, construction gram-
mar differs from most other theories in that it encourages accounts which
discuss form and meaning together (rather than structure alone). As a result,
my analysis often focuses on symbolic and semantic descriptions of con-
structs typically viewed from a syntactic perspective (see Croft 2007: 490).
This is especially true of my analysis of specificational copular sentences in
the following chapter.
Second, construction grammar is a monostratal model of language; that
is, it does not recognize separate levels (or components) of syntactic struc-
ture. Therefore, while I often make use of linguistic terms which imply a
derivational process, such as clefted, extraposed, reverse and inverse, I do
not assume that these constructions are derived from more basic, underly-
ing structures. Instead, my use of this terminology is intended only as a
way of engaging with a larger literature developed from within alternative
theories of grammar.
Chapter 3
Specificational copular constructions
Most authors would agree that in example (3), which contains a postcopular
indefinite NP, John McIntyre is classified as a member of the set (or cate-
gory) of surgeons and is therefore ascribed the property of being a surgeon.
The sentence therefore expresses a relation of set-membership (or class
inclusion). However, the analysis of sentences containing postcopular defi-
nite NPs, as in (2), is more controversial and corresponds, in part, to two
different and competing accounts of specificational NP be NP sentences,
such as (1). These are commonly referred to as the equative approach and
the inverse approach.
28 Specificational copular constructions
In what follows, I outline the main tenets of each type of analysis before
going on, in the remaining sections of this chapter, to advance a particular
account of specificational copular sentences which draws mainly from the
inverse tradition. I approach the literature and outline my analysis with the
assumptions of a set-theoretic account of nominal predication, defined as a
semantic relation between members and sets. Later in the chapter, I situate
my analysis within constructional and cognitive frameworks that take a dif-
ferent approach to the concept of nominal predication.
For some authors, sentences with postcopular definite noun phrases, such
as (2) above, are semantically equative. On this analysis, the thoracic sur-
geon functions as a referring expression, picking out a particular individual
that is equivalent to John McIntyre. The sentence in (2) therefore tells us
that the individuals John McIntyre and the thoracic surgeon are one and the
same. Since the specificational sentence in (1) contains the same two noun
phrases, albeit in the reverse order, it can be accounted for in the exact
same way (see for example, Evans and Green 2006: 599).
On this account then, specificational copular sentences are provided
with the same analysis as identity statements, such as (4). This makes sense
because such sentences are also reversible, as shown in (5). It also helps to
explain why specificational sentences like (1) are felt to have an identifying
meaning.1
(9) The tallest girl in the class is Swedish, isnt she? [predicational]
(10) The tallest girl in the class is Molly, isnt it? [specificational]
(11) [Pointing to a player on the field]
SHE is Molly Jacobson, isnt she? [equative]
(examples from Mikkelsen 2005: 72)
These results indicate that there is a clear semantic difference between the
subjects of specificational and equative copular sentences. As Heycock and
Kroch (2002: 106) concede, This behaviour is quite unexpected under an
equative analysis. On an inverse account, however, the pronominalization
data gains a simple explanation; as Mikkelsen (2005: 66) observes, it is of-
ten anaphoric to predicative elements, as shown in (12) (see also Chapter 4,
Section 1.1).
(12) LBJ is the President of the United States. He has been {it/*him}
since 1963. (examples from Mikkelsen 2005: 65)
Proponents of the inverse approach include (to name a few) den Dikken
(2006), Heggie (1988), Mikkelsen (2005), Moro (1997), Partee (2004a) and
Williams (1983). However, despite a large literature developing and sup-
porting inverse accounts, the approach leaves a number of questions unre-
solved. For instance, a potential problem with this type of analysis is that
some predicational copular sentences resist inversion. We have already
seen, in (6) above, that indefinite NP predicates cannot typically occur in
precopular position. In fact, as I go on to explain in Section 3, some indefi-
nite NPs, in certain contexts, can function as the initial NP of a specifica-
tional copular sentence. However, the exact criteria on which this distinc-
tion is based remain elusive.
Authors supporting an equative account argue that indefinite NP sub-
jects will only be permissible if they allow a specific reading, on which
they refer to a particular individual (see Heycock and Kroch 2002: 112). In
contrast, those arguing for an inverse approach have sometimes appealed to
information structure conditions as an explanation for why indefinite NP
predicates are often barred from moving into precopular position (for ex-
ample, see Mikkelsen 2005). In Section 3.2, I show that information struc-
ture alone cannot satisfactorily account for the data. It therefore remains a
challenge for the inverse approach to provide an adequate description of, as
well as an explanation for, the restrictions on indefinite NP predicates.
32 Specificational copular constructions
A further difficulty with the inverse approach is that it does not address
the question of where specificational meaning comes from. These works
stipulate that when inversion occurs, the result is a specificational copular
sentence. Mikkelsen (2005: 1) suggests that predicational copular clauses
tell us something about the referent of the subject, while a specificational
clause says who or what the referent is (emphasis original). However,
specificational meaning does not follow as a direct result of movement and
is not tied to a particular word order. For instance, noninverted NP be NP
sentences with focal subjects, such as (13), can perform the same specifica-
tional function of identifying rather than describing the referent as their
inverse counterparts (see Declerck 1988: 93). Such examples are some-
times labelled reverse specificational copular sentences.
This poses the following, as yet unanswered, questions: what is the rela-
tionship between specificational and predicational meaning and how does
specificational meaning come about?
Higgins (1979: 275) suggests that while these examples are presumably
not directly related,the existence of the parallelism clearly means some-
thing. While Higgins seems doubtful of the validity of movement-based
3. Declerck (1988) also engages with the concept of specificational meaning and
formulates an account based upon the same value-variable relation as Higgins.
However, by expanding on this idea, Declerck provides an extremely broad
definition of specificational meaning as pertaining to any sentence that gives
the answer to a wh-question, including ones with a predicational focus, as in (i).
This effectively reduces the concept of specificational meaning to contrastive
focus. Since such examples have a predicational or ascriptive meaning, they are
not considered specificational copular sentences here.
(i) Q. What is John like? A. John is SILLY. (adapted from Declerck 1988: 39)
34 Specificational copular constructions
accounts here, I show that his observations square neatly with the particular
type of non-derivational inverse analysis that I propose.
To begin then, let us assume that the sentences in (19) and (20) are both
predicational, containing a precopular referring expression (John) and a
postcopular predicative NP which denotes the set of individuals that have
the relevant property (of surgeon or best surgeon).
4. I follow Birner (1994, 1996), in using the terms inverse and inversion without
supporting a multistratal, movement-based analysis, but rather to conform to
traditional terminology for clarity (Birner 1994: 235).
Specification as (the inverse of) nominal predication 35
We can account for this difference by examining the nature of the class-
membership relation in each sentence. In (20), the postcopular NP denotes
a set with only one member; there can only be one best surgeon. Therefore,
by classifying John as a member of this set, we are saying something about
John (describing him as being the best surgeon) and we are listing the
complete membership of the set best surgeon. The latter, specificational
reading is brought about if the referent (or membership) is focused, shown
in (22). In contrast, the predicate nominal in (19) denotes a set with many
members. By classifying John as a single member of the set of surgeons,
we are ascribing a property to John. However, since John does not come
close to making up the membership of this unrestricted set, a specificational
reading for (21) is not forthcoming.
This simple observation goes a long way to explaining why definite
noun phrases are so common in specificational NP be NP sentences. We
saw that in (20) above, the superlative best indicates a single member set.
However, in most specificational sentences, the set is restricted simply as a
result of it being marked as definite. For example, the sentence in (23)
allows a specificational interpretation despite the fact that there are other
thoracic surgeons in existence.
Here, it is the presence of the definite article that marks this set as re-
stricted, such that John represents an exhaustive list of its members.
36 Specificational copular constructions
According to Hawkins (1991), the definite article has three main prop-
erties. First, it carries with it the conventional implicature that the noun
phrase will be understood in relation to a shared set or pragmatic (P-) set
which is manifest in the speech participants mutual cognitive environment
(a notion borrowed from Sperber and Wilson (1986)). For example, in (23),
the thoracic surgeon can be understood in relation to the surrounding con-
text (or larger situation set) expressed overtly in (24).5
5. This is not to say that the incomplete description in (23) contains additional
restrictive material at some underlying level of syntactic representation. Such
an analysis is dubbed the syntactic ellipsis approach by Stanley and Szab
(2000), and is strongly criticized therein.
Specification as (the inverse of) nominal predication 37
However, unlike most inverse accounts, I do not assume that the latter is
derived from the former, or that these sentences stem from the same
underlying structure. Rather, I suggest that NP be NP sentences with pre-
copular predicative NPs make up a distinct construction that shares prop-
erties with other kinds of inversion construction, including VP inversion,
PP inversion and AP inversion, as shown in (28), (29), (30) and (31).
(28) The winning couple was Pierce and Able [NP inversion]
(29) Sponsoring the event was Jonathan Tuttle [VP inversion]
6. As den Dikken (2005) notes, there is confusion in the literature over the terms
reverse and inverse, since they have come to refer to opposing sentences. Their
use depends on which configuration is considered the more basic or canonical.
While I do not assume a derivational account, in what follows, I continue to use
terminology associated with the inverse approach.
Specification as (the inverse of) nominal predication 39
10. For instance, while the subject-predicate strings of predicate nominal sentences
(including non-inverted specificational sentences) can occur as the complement
of consider, shown in (ii) and (iii), specificational inversion and equative struc-
tures cannot, shown in (iv) and (v) (see also Heycock and Kroch 1999).
(vi) But if what you say is true, that would make the real murderer John!
(Heycock and Kroch 1999: 381)
44 Specificational copular constructions
Langacker posits the following semantic structure for the predicate nomina-
tive construction (see Figure 2). Here, the landmark is an instance (ti) of a
type specification (T), such as the category doctor or Chief of Services. A
relation of identity holds between this instance and the trajector (Ausch-
lander) within the domain of instantiation.
Specification as (the inverse of) nominal predication 45
12. In formal semantics, common nouns are interpreted as <e,t> because they
denote sets of (or properties of) entities, rather than referring to individuals.
46 Specificational copular constructions
Langacker (1991: 69) provides this type of analysis for predicate nomi-
natives containing simple, articleless nouns, as in the French example (36).
For such sentences, the predicate noun describes a type specification (T),
rather than an instance of a type specification (ti). The semantic characteri-
zation of the instance is instead provided by the subject nominal. For (36)
then, the landmark is the category doctor and the trajector is the instance
Auschlander. As shown in Figure 3, the profiled relationship (represented
by a dotted line) is thus a correspondence between a type and an instance.
This structure represents a genuine, or direct, instantiation relation between
the trajector instance and the type specification. Here, there is only one in-
stance, provided by the subject nominal. Consequently, the class inclusion
relation is not mediated by an intervening identity relation between two
instances (cf. Figure 2).
Quantified NPs are therefore given a type <<e,t>,t> interpretation because they
quantify over and in relation to sets of entities. See also footnote 2.
Accounting for the behaviour of indefinite NPs 47
So what is it about these particular indefinite NPs that allows them to meet
the requirements of this inversion construction and enables a specificational
meaning to occur? From the analysis sketched so far, we might expect that
the kinds of indefinite NP predicate to occur in the specificational inversion
construction would be those that share most in common with definite NPs.
In what follows, I show that while these indefinite descriptions certainly do
display characteristics associated with definiteness, they also perform a
useful, additional function which is not found in inversion sentences with
definite NP subjects. I begin by discussing a previous attempt at character-
izing this subset of indefinite NPs from within the inverse tradition.
(40) Mary saw a movie last week. The movie was not very interesting.
(Abbott 2010: 133)
For instance, if (43) were part of a discourse about a particular hospital, the
existence of a psychologist within this environment could be inferred from
our shared script or frame of hospitals i.e. from what we know about
hospitals. As Birner (1996: 95) notes, inferable information patterns with
evoked information in inversion sentences and can therefore be collapsed
into a single category (i.e. discourse-old information).
In contrast, indefinite specificational subjects will not be felicitous if
they are discourse-old; that is, if the information they express is already
present in the context of a particular speech event. To illustrate this point,
consider the example in (44). Given the right context, this could be an
acceptable specificational sentence. However, if the indefinite NP is expli-
citly evoked in the previous discourse, (44) becomes unacceptable, shown
in (45) and (46).
13. Although the first sentence of (45) and (47) contains an indefinite NP, it does
not imply exclusiveness (more than one). As Hawkins (1978: 222223) com-
ments, the exclusiveness condition of indefinite noun phrases disappears when
they occur in there be sentences.
Accounting for the behaviour of indefinite NPs 53
discourse context (see Prince 1981: 236). As shown in (46), the indefinite
article a does not have this function in specificational sentences; it is not
used to provide an already familiar or presupposed description or to classify
an entity as a single member of some previously evoked set of entities.
In the specificational inversion construction, descriptions introduced by
a therefore perform a different function from those introduced by the or
even one. Rather than indicating that the existence of a set of entities that
satisfy the description is already known or knowable from the discourse
context, the indefinite article is used to establish the existence of this set
and to position this information in relation to the discourse context. For
instance, as was shown above, the initial NP in (39), repeated here as (49),
provides a description which is brand-new to the discourse, but which is
also explicitly related to some element within the discourse context (in this
case, the Kiparskys). Assuming Princes (1981) taxonomy then, these
indefinite specificational subjects are brand-new anchored.
In (49), the relative clause provides the anchor, or link, to the preceding
discourse. For Hawkins (1978, 1991), this is an establishing relative clause.
It adds to, or extends, the mutual cognitive environment in a way that is
relevant to and compatible with the interlocutors existing knowledge
(Hawkins 1991: 411). Fox and Thompson (1990) discuss this as a form of
grounding; the NP is grounded in the conversational space via its relation-
ship to a referent which is clearly given in the immediate context.
From the account outlined in Section 2 above, we might expect that
indefinite NP predicates which contain establishing relative clauses would
be better suited to the specificational function, since they exhibit many of
the same properties as definite NPs. As we have seen, these indefinites are
explicitly anchored to the speech event. This is what enables the indefinite
NP in (49) to meet the discourse requirement of inversion, such that the
postcopular NP is newer to the discourse than the precopular NP (see
Birner 1994, 1996). Furthermore, since anchoring takes place via restrictive
modification, these indefinite NPs denote highly restricted sets; in other
words, the type is specified to a greater degree, limiting the number of
possible instances of that type (see Section 2.3).
Finally, as Hawkins (1978: 225) points out, the exclusiveness condition
is no longer operative in indefinite NPs with establishing relative clauses.
54 Specificational copular constructions
14. Since additional material is often said to facilitate a specific reading for indefi-
nite noun phrases (see Fodor and Sag 1982), one could argue that the felicitous-
ness of indefinite specificational subjects is dependent on a specificity condi-
tion similar to that found in sentences containing individual-level predicates
(see Heycock and Kroch 2002: 112). However, the kinds of indefinite NPs that
make acceptable specificational subjects do not readily occur with predicates
expressing permanent properties without inducing a generic reading, as shown
in (viii) compared with (ix).
(vii) A doctor who finds cures for rare diseases is Jonathan Tuttle.
(viii) A doctor who finds cures for rare diseases is intelligent. (generic reading)
(ix) A certain doctor we both know is intelligent. (specific reading)
the same nominal predication relation of class inclusion but involves inter-
preting this relation from the opposite perspective, as listing the member-
ship of a set rather than attributing a property to a referent. In Section 2.1,
definite NP predicates were shown to be especially well-suited to enabling
a specificational interpretation because they are always understood in rela-
tion to the speech event (and so denote restricted sets) and because they are
associated with inclusiveness. For sentences with definite NP predicates
then, the referring expression is understood to provide a complete, exhaus-
tive list of the members which constitute the restricted set.
The specificational interpretation also relies on a particular information
structure, in which the referring expression is in focus. From this, it follows
that specificational sentences will invariably meet the discourse require-
ments of inversion, such that the precopular element is not newer to the
discourse than the postcopular element (which itself conforms to highly
general information structural tendencies). This, along with the fact that the
NP inversion construction provides an unambiguous, structural way of dis-
tinguishing between specificational and predicational meaning, helps to ex-
plain the association between specification and inversion (see Section 2.2).
In Section 2.3, this account of specificational NP be NP sentences was
situated within cognitive and constructional frameworks. Here, it was ar-
gued that the class inclusion relation of nominal predication does not arise
via a special use of classifying be (contra Croft 1991), nor is it implied
indirectly as a result of an identity relation between an instance and an arbi-
trary, nonspecific instance of a type (contra Langacker 1991). Instead,
predicate nominals (definite and indefinite) were analysed as designating a
type and as profiling a relation between that type and the schematic in-
stance of that type, which is then elaborated by an argument expression. On
this account, predicate nominals are properly relational, expressing an
instantiation (or class inclusion) relation between an instance and a type.
In Section 3, we saw that by focusing on the question of what consti-
tutes specificational meaning, rather than on the conditions affecting syn-
tactic movement operations, we can provide something of an explanation
for the behaviour of, and restrictions on, indefinite specificational subjects.
As was shown in Section 3.2, these issues have not been satisfactorily
addressed in movement-based inverse accounts. It was argued, in Section
3.3, that the indefinite article performs a useful function in specificational
inversion sentences and so provides a contrast with the use of the definite
article. First, it allows the speaker to introduce a brand-new set description
into the communication space, with the proviso that it is anchored to the
discourse in some way. Second, it means that the speaker can be noncom-
58 Specificational copular constructions
specifying function which requires that the predicate denotes a restricted set
or designates a highly specified type a characteristic which falls out from
the semantics and pragmatics of definite NP predicates (see Section 2.1).
Specificational inversion sentences, on the other hand, involve the same
class inclusion relation as sentences with postcopular predicate nominals,
but have different structural properties (see Section 2.2).15 We could argue
that speakers recognize the parallelism between the specificational inver-
sion construction and the predicate nominal construction, and so form an
abstraction, shown as predicate nominal semantics in Figure 4. Although
this construction mostly comprises semantic information (outlined in Sec-
tion 2.3) and does not specify a particular linear order, predicate nominal
semantics still constitutes a form-meaning pairing because the type specifi-
cation must be provided by a nominal element. As I explain in Chapter 5,
the same is not true for the element characterizing the instance of this type,
as a variety of phrasal categories can be used to perform a referring func-
tion. The construction therefore has a highly abstract form, specifying for
two phrasal elements (XP and NP) mediated by the copular verb be.
The specificational inversion construction further stipulates that the type
must be specified (or the set restricted) to the extent that a specificational
interpretation can be achieved. The construction involves mismatch, in that
the grammatical subject is the semantic predicate and the semantic argu-
ment (a referring expression) is in the complement position. In addition, the
specificational inversion construction has a fixed information structure,
with focus placed invariably on the postcopular XP, which characterizes the
instantiation of the type (or the membership of the set). As we saw in
Section 2.2, the specificational inversion construction shares some of these
properties with other kinds of be inversion construction. Despite differ-
ences in their syntactic behaviour, these inversion sentences exhibit a simi-
lar mismatch between form and function (with the logical subject occurring
in postverbal position and a predicative element appearing in clause-initial
position) in addition to sharing the same discourse requirements. The fam-
ily of be inversion constructions may therefore provide local support (and
motivation) for the symbolic and information structural properties of the
specificational inversion construction, as shown in Figure 4.
15. As noted in Section 2.2, it is conceivable that the specificational inversion con-
struction shares the same syntactic (subject be complement) structure as that
found in equative sentences one which is underspecified for syntactic predica-
tion (see footnote 10). However, since I have not explored the syntax of these
constructions in any detail, this is not represented in Figure 4.
60 Specificational copular constructions
Declerck (1988: 93) also argues against Blom and Daalders claim that
specificational copular sentences involve a hyponymy relation; he observes
that There is no difference in generality between the variable NP and the
value NP. Declerck suggests that this is the reason why the two NPs are
reversible because they exhibit no difference in specificity.16
The account of specificational meaning developed here provides a solu-
tion to the discrepancy between these two arguments. On the one hand, I
assume (with Blom and Daalder 1977) that specificational inversion sen-
tences involve class inclusion relations and are therefore, in some sense, the
reverse of predicational NP be NP sentences. However, I also agree with
Declerck (1988: 93) that specificational sentences are not characterized by
a difference in generality. For sentences with definite NP predicates, such
as (52) above, there is, as Declerck comments, no difference in the general-
ity of the two NPs, since both are inherently singular. However, what Dec-
lerck does not acknowledge is that the postcopular NP can nevertheless be
interpreted as denoting a (highly restricted, all-inclusive) set or class. As we
have seen, this property of definite NPs is what enables these sentences to
16. For Declerck (1988: 47), the asymmetry of specificational sentences instead
stems from the fact that whereas the value NP is strongly referring, the varia-
ble NP is weakly referring or attributive. In other words, the variable NP is
used to refer to an unknown individual whoever or whatever is the so-and-
so (Donnellan 1966: 285). However, Mikkelsen (2005: 89) shows that in tag
questions, subjects with unknown reference differ from the subjects of specifi-
cational inversion sentences in that they do not pronominalize as it, but with
the gendered pronouns she/he, as shown in (xii) (see also Declerck 1988: 56).
Furthermore, as Higgins (1979: 269) observes, the concept attributive does not
accurately characterize the function of specificational sentences. On an attribu-
tive use, the speaker does not know the identity of the referent; however, speci-
ficational sentences are instead used when the speaker does know (and intends
to inform the hearer of) the referent to which the description applies.
62 Specificational copular constructions
The term pseudocleft stands alongside the term cleft (used as a synonym for
it-cleft) to indicate that while it-clefts can almost always be paraphrased by
noncopular sentences, pseudoclefts usually, but do not always, have simple
sentence counterparts (see Ward, Birner and Huddleston 2002: 1423). For
instance, (53) and (54) correspond in meaning to I like grape soda best and
(55) can be paraphrased as he only drinks grape soda. However, there is no
corresponding noncleft for (56) because *I like about it that its so sweet is
ungrammatical.
The main difference between (57) and (58) is that the th-cleft in (57)
contains an obligatory restrictive relative clause. As shown in (59), the sen-
tence becomes unacceptable when this restrictive information is removed
(see Lambrecht 2001: 469). Of course, the initial NP in (58) can also be
restrictively modified, shown in (60). However, here, the reduced relative
provides the P-set (this outfit), within which the existence and uniqueness
of the singleton set aspiring pianist holds (see Hawkins 1991). Since this P-
set is already accessible from the immediate context (as indicated by the
use of the definite article) it does not have to be expressed overtly, shown
in (58).
In contrast, the relative clause in (57) provides the singleton set information
(wannabe concert pianist) that distinguishes Charles from the other entities
that make up the larger P-set. Here, the head noun one performs a partitive
64 Specificational copular constructions
(62) What you should try instead is shaving yourself in the evenings
(63) The approach you should try instead is shaving yourself in the
evenings (examples from Higgins 1979: 57)
These authors argue for an ellipsis approach where the licensing negation c-
commands the NPI at S-structure within an elliptical IP, shown in (67).
They go on to suggest that this type of wh-cleft patterns with question-
answer pairs, and analyse the wh-clause as an interrogative rather than a
fused relative.
(67) What John didnt buy was [he didnt buy any wine]
(den Dikken, Meinunger and Wilder 2000: 50)
For den Dikken, Meinunger and Wilder (2000) then, not all types of wh-
cleft can be reduced to specificational NP be NP sentences. However, the
question-in-disguise theory of wh-clefts is not without its problems. For
one thing, it stipulates enormous amounts of elided material that are not
always supported by agreement factors. In addition, NPI connectivity can
sometimes feature in th-clefts, which contain what are undisputably DPs
containing headed relative clauses in their pre-copular position (den Dik-
ken, Meinunger and Wilder 2000: 81).
(68) ?The only thing John didnt buy was any wine
17. However, since many of these accounts depend upon a be-of-identity, they
are somewhat at odds both with analyses that view specificational sentences as
instances of nominal predication and with evidence that specificational mean-
ing (whether class inclusion or identity) is actually independent of be.
Summarizing and extending the account 67
The only way for these authors to account for examples like (68) is to
suggest that the precopular DP is a concealed question, whether this is
realized syntactically at an underlying level (requiring further ellipsis) or
purely in terms of semantic function (see also Schlenker 2003).
Exactly how NPI connectivity works in specificational sentences is not
clear to me. However, I am skeptical of an approach that provides superfi-
cially similar and functionally analogous sentence types with such different
and unrelated underlying structures. As Schlenker (2003: 212) observes, it
is not entirely impossible for a negative polarity item to be licensed in a
reverse wh-cleft.
(69) To buy any wine was what he refused to do (Schlenker 2003: 212)
As a result, I maintain a fused relative analysis for all types of wh-cleft and
will assume that the gradient acceptability of foci containing NPIs is evi-
dence that wh-clefts and reverse wh-clefts form distinct constructions that
have developed their own idiosyncratic properties (see also Chapter 8).18
As shown in Figure 5, the wh-cleft construction is an instance of, and
inherits from, the specificational inversion construction. Thereverse wh-
cleft construction is a subtype of the specificational non-inversion construc-
tion. Like other reverse specificational sentences, reverse wh-clefts are
instances of the predicate nominal construction. The wh-cleft and the
reverse wh-cleft are positioned at a lower level in the constructional
hierarchy, which reflects the fact that they are less schematic (or general)
than the higher level constructions. For instance, in addition to their con-
struction-specific behaviour, wh-clefts and reverse wh-clefts also have a
more substantive (fixed) form. While the specificational inversion and non-
inversion schemas involve nominal predication, the wh-cleft constructions
further specify for a fused relative (selecting from a limited range of wh-
relatives) in the semantic predicative position.
18. I suspect that the restrictions on any and (to a lesser extent) some may be
related to their extreme non-specificity. For instance, unlike in (66), the NPI of
(69) is embedded inside a specific action to buy any wine. Likewise, (68)
becomes less acceptable without the adverb only, which establishes a contrast
between wine (as a specific foodstuff) and the other produce that John did buy.
Therefore, the wh-cleft may differ from other specificational sentences only in
that it is unusually well-suited to occurring with non-specific, abstract foci. I
provide more evidence to this effect in Chapter 8, where I compare it-clefts to
wh-clefts.
68 Specificational copular constructions
Like th-clefts and wh-clefts, all-clefts, such as (70), are a variety of pseudo-
cleft (see Collins 1991b: 483). As with th-clefts, the precopular constituent
here is clearly nominal and so can be easily incorporated into the analysis
of specificational NP be NP sentences outlined in Section 2.
The all of all-clefts therefore differs from the ordinary use of this word. In
(72), all has the opposite effect: that of emphasizing the number of things
hed asked for. While all in (72) corresponds in meaning to the quantifier
everything, we cannot replace the all of (70) with this word, shown in (73).
Therefore, rather than quantifying over individuals (all things), the all of
all-clefts seems to be used to emphasize the totality of the set, as inclusive
of all and only those entities to which the description applies.
Since all-clefts contain this unvarying substantive element, which fur-
thermore fulfils a somewhat idiosyncratic function in these sentences, they
can be treated as instances of a distinct all-cleft construction, which is itself
a subtype of the specificational inversion construction (see Figure 6). Like
other kinds of specificational copular sentence, the all-cleft has a counter-
part which does not involve inversion, shown in (74). These reverse all-
clefts form a subcategory of specificational non-inversion sentence. For a
more detailed analysis of all-clefts, see Tognini-Bonelli (1992).
In the introductory chapter, it was noted that English it-clefts are comprised
of four main elements: an introductory it, a form of the copular verb be, a
postcopular phrasal element and a sentence-final clause. However, our un-
derstanding of how these components function and relate to one another
differs from one analysis to the other. Consequently, it is common in the
cleft literature for these structural subparts to be labelled using construc-
tion-specific, theory neutral terminology. Following Hedberg (1990), I
make use of the terms shown in (1) throughout my discussion.
Also in Chapter 1, we saw that there are two main types of analysis that
have been proposed to account for the it-clefts unusual structure. One of
these hinges on the correspondence between it-clefts and simple noncopular
sentences. On this account, the cleft clause is predicated of, or is in some
other way related to, the clefted constituent, while the cleft pronoun is
semantically expletive. The other type of analysis stems from the treatment
of it-clefts as specificational copular sentences. From this perspective, the
cleft clause is in an extraposed position and is related in some way to the
cleft pronoun, which may play an important role in the interpretation of the
sentence.
In what follows, I outline my own version of the latter type of analysis,
based upon the account of specificational copular sentences developed in
Chapter 3. I then go on, in the remaining sections of this chapter, to discuss
my analysis in relation to the cleft literature. In Section 2, I pit my analysis
against an expletive account, before comparing it to other versions of the
extraposition analysis in Section 3. Finally, in Section 4, I show how my
analysis of it-clefts differs considerably from the alternative constructional
accounts proposed in the literature.
72 It-clefts as specificational copular sentences
From these examples, we can see that the highlighted cleft clause in (2)
corresponds to the relative clause in (3). As a result, I suggest that the cleft
clause is in fact a restrictive relative, albeit in an extraposed position. From
this, it follows that the cleft clause must be relative to the initial it, provid-
ing us with a semantic NP be NP structure.
Like other personal pronouns, it is definite. Functioning as a pronominal
form of the definite article, it therefore imbues the discontinuous NP with
characteristics associated with definiteness. The cleft pronoun also acts as
the head noun of the description, performing a role equivalent to the one or
the thing in th-cleft sentences (cf. Postals 1970 transformational analysis
of personal pronouns). However, as is the case for th-clefts, it is the relative
clause that provides the distinguishing classifying information. For in-
stance, in (2) and (3), the act of complaining uniquely characterizes Frank
as distinct from the other members of the relevant background set (such as,
the people in this outfit).
On this account then, it-clefts are specificational inversion sentences in
which the semantic predicate is a discontinuous definite NP. It-clefts there-
fore involve an additional mismatch between the syntax and the semantics:
while a nouns modifiers typically appear inside the NP, in it-clefts and
1. However, this does not follow on all accounts that treat it-clefts as specifica-
tional copular sentences. Declerck and Seki (1990: 31) say, As is well-known,
it-clefts are the only type of specificational copular structure in which the vari-
able need not be a nominal.
The English it-cleft 73
The ungrammaticality of sentences like (4) and (5) has been used as an
argument against analyses which claim that the cleft clause forms a seman-
tic constituent with the initial it (see Jespersen 1937: 8485). Left unex-
plained, this data is certainly problematic for the account sketched here and
I return to the issue of why these structures represent unacceptable alter-
natives in Chapter 6. For now, however, it is sufficient to note that the it-
clefts extraposed structure conforms to, and is supported by, a variety of
information structure generalizations (or constructions).
Like other specificational inversion constructions, it-clefts have a fixed
information structure, in which the focus is located in clause-final position.
Thus, all such constructions conform to the principle that the relatively new
information should not occur in subject position. However, it-clefts also
conform to the information structure tendency for heavier constituents to
occur near the end of the clause (see Hawkins 1994, 2004; Wasow 1997,
2002). As Prince (1978: 886) notes, the cleft clause in it-clefts is on average
nearly twice as long as the clefted constituent (see also Collins 1991a). The
it-cleft configuration is therefore motivated by some highly general, and of-
ten competing, information structure principles. As Lambrecht (2001: 488)
comments, cleft formation is a way for a language to have its cake and eat
it too.
In part, this explains why the it-cleft configuration exists as a useful and
motivated construction in our taxonomy of copular sentences. As shown in
Figure 7, the it-cleft is a less schematic subtype of specificational inversion
construction. It is more specific, in that it contains the substantive element
it and it specifies for an extraposed restrictive relative clause. Together, the
cleft pronoun and the cleft clause function as the definite NP predicate,
74 It-clefts as specificational copular sentences
Specificational
inversion construction
There are also other types of specificational sentence which share the it-
clefts irregular configuration. Aside from an initial it, cleft structure can be
introduced by other elements, such as the demonstrative pronouns this and
that (see Hedberg 2000). These demonstrative clefts are used to indicate
temporal or spatial deixis within the immediate discourse context.2
2. I use the term demonstrative cleft to refer to sentences which have the extra-
posed structure of it-clefts, but which are introduced by demonstrative pro-
nouns. The term is used in a different sense in Calude (2007, 2008b) to refer to
a subset of reverse pseudoclefts with demonstrative subjects, such as thats
what I thought.
The English it-cleft 75
For instance, this in (6) indicates that the description person were talking
about is dependent upon the current discourse situation. On the other hand,
(7) is tied to an event in the recent past. Here, that indicates that the
description person who just phoned is only slightly removed from the
immediate context and still depends upon this context for its interpretation.
There-clefts, such as (9), are also related structurally to the it-cleft. They
differ from it-clefts in that they do not carry an exhaustiveness effect. For
instance, we assume from the it-cleft in (8) that Mark is the only person (in
this department, for instance) who is working Saturday. However, the
there-cleft in (9) is used to indicate that Mark and Oliver may or may not
comprise a complete list of people available to work Saturday.
Specificational
inversion construction
Cleft schema
Wh-cleft All-cleft
(10) Was it Oliver who came to work Saturday? No, it was Mark.
(11) Was it Oliver who came to work Saturday? No, it was Mark who
came to work Saturday.
(12) Was it Oliver who came to work Saturday? #No, the one who came
to work Saturday was Mark.
(13) Was it Oliver who said hed work Saturday? No, that was Mark.
is that in A1, the initial NP depends upon the context for its interpretation.
In this sentence then, Beverly is specified as the individual who bears a
certain contextually salient property of being the best baker (Mikkelsen
2007: 49).
1.2.1. Focus
This utterance can be interpreted in two ways, shown in (20) and (21). The
context in (20) results in an argument-focus reading, where the object
Margaret constitutes the focus phrase, while in (21) the entire predicate is
in focus.
In contrast, the corresponding it-cleft, shown in (22), does not allow both of
these readings. Here, the focused element (Margaret) is placed in a syntac-
tically marked postcopular position while the remaining content of (19) is
located in the cleft clause. This provides an unambiguous argument-focus
reading; as Lambrecht (2001: 489) notes, it-clefts are used to prevent
unintended predicate-focus construal of a proposition.
1.2.2. Presupposition
Huddleston 2002: 1415). For instance, in (22), the proposition John kissed
somebody is taken as a precondition to the assertion that John kissed Mar-
garet. Information that is presupposed is characteristically preserved under
negation. For instance, (25) asserts that John didnt kiss Margaret but the
presupposition that John kissed somebody (else) remains in force (see
Halvorsen 1978).
On the account of it-clefts argued for here, it follows that the discontinuous
constituent should also carry existential presuppositions. For instance, both
(22) and (25) presuppose that that the individual(s) that John kissed ex-
ist(s), while (22) also entails that the individual that John kissed exists.
As in it-clefts then, the negation of the copular verb in specificational
sentences like (26) does not affect the existential presuppositions of definite
descriptions; here, neither the existence of the set of thoracic surgeons nor
that of the individual John is denied. Instead, what is negated is the exis-
tence of an instantiation or class inclusion relation between these elements.
Tellingly, however, both (25) and (26) carry the assumption that some other
individual matches the description (or instantiates the type). This supports
the suggestion, made in Chapter 3, Sections 2.2 and 2.3, that the definite
NP subject of specificational inversion sentences is a relational element. In
other words, the existence of the set requires the existence of its member-
ship or instantiation. The purpose of a specificational sentence then is to
elaborate the (as yet) schematic trajector role of instance. Since (25) and
(26) only identify an individual that does not perform this function, the act
of specification has not yet been achieved. Such sentences therefore suggest
that some other entity exists that can complete this instantiation relation.
On the account proposed here, the presuppositional nature of it-clefts
does not follow from the backgrounded position of the cleft clause and does
not warrant independent explanation in relation to the cleft configuration.
Instead, it follows from the semantic contribution of the cleft it. As we have
seen, the it-cleft shares this perfectly regular pragmatic property with other
definite descriptions and (with respect to negation, for instance) exhibits the
same behaviour as other specificational copular sentences.
1.2.3. Exhaustiveness
Again this pragmatic property falls out neatly once we treat the it-cleft as a
specificational copular sentence containing a (discontinuous) definite NP
predicate. On Hawkins (1978, 1991) account, the definite article is asso-
ciated with inclusiveness, such that the NP applies to the complete set of
entities that satisfies this description (within a pragmatically restricted con-
text). As I explained in Chapter 3, this characteristic of inclusiveness brings
about an exhaustiveness interpretation for specificational sentences con-
taining definite NP predicates. In such cases, the entities predicated of by
The English it-cleft 83
(29) Well, theres Mark and Oliver that are available to work Saturday
Since it-clefts and there-clefts share the same cleft structure, the differences
between them must rest on the nature of the cleft pronoun (see Section 1.1).
On the account developed here, the cleft it performs the same function as
the definite article. Since definiteness entails uniqueness, it follows that the
act of specification in it-clefts will necessarily be interpreted as exhaustive.
However, there-clefts seem to pattern more closely with specificational
sentences introduced by indefinite NPs in this regard.
Indefinite NPs are not associated with inclusiveness but, as shown in
Chapter 3, they can still occur as the subjects of specificational inversion
sentences as long as they do not implicate exclusiveness/non-uniqueness
(therefore explaining the preference for restrictively modified indefinites).
In specificational sentences then, indefinite NPs are noncommittal with
respect to inclusiveness and exclusiveness. From this, it follows that the
entities predicated of by the indefinite NP could conceivably, (but may in
reality not) comprise a complete list of entities that satisfy the description.
There-clefts also allow the speaker to be evasive about whether the act of
specification is exhaustive or not. For instance, it is possible, following
(29), that Mark and Oliver are the only colleagues available to work
Saturday. Indeed, this state of affairs most likely represents the speakers
(perhaps limited) knowledge on this matter. However, by choosing a there-
cleft (rather than an it-cleft), the speaker indicates that they are unwilling to
commit to the stronger proposition.
Assuming a discontinuous constituent account then, the property of ex-
haustiveness in it-clefts can be explained as a direct consequence of the
property of inclusiveness (or uniqueness) associated with definiteness.
While exhaustiveness is a concept which is well-suited to the specifying
function, the act of specification does not, in and of itself, bring about an
1.2.4. Contrast
It-clefts are also said to have a contrastive function. For instance, (30)
contrasts Charles with other people who do not share his ambition. More
specifically, it invites a contrast between Charles and the other people who
make up some contextually relevant set of individuals. For example, if used
to specify the only aspiring pianist in this outfit, (30) will necessarily invite
a contrast between Charles and the other people in this outfit. This sense of
contrast is even more pronounced in negative it-clefts. For instance, in (31)
Charles is contrasted with the individual who satisfies this contextually
relevant description. As Declerck (1992: 214) observes, contrastiveness is
a relative characteristic: the sense of contrast becomes greater if the set of
potential values is limited and clearly defined.
Such examples have led Atlas and Levinson (1981) and Declerck (1988) to
treat positive and negative it-clefts differently, with only the former containing
exhaustiveness entailments/implicatures. However, once we relate exhaustive-
ness to inclusiveness, both types acquire a uniform interpretation. On this ac-
count, what is at issue in (i) is the totality of the set of people John kissed. The
sentence in (ii) is therefore unproblematic; it simply asserts that the complete
set of people John kissed is not made up of Margaret, but of Kellye and Ginger.
Therefore, exhaustiveness, or the fact that we are talking about the totality of
the set, is a prominent feature of both positive and negative it-clefts.
86 It-clefts as specificational copular sentences
(32) The psychologist who works at St. Eligius is Dr. Hugh Beale.
In the former, the restrictive relative clause provides the shared environ-
ment (or P-set information) of hospital workers from which the sole psy-
chologist is identified. In the latter, the relative clause tells us what distin-
guishes Dr. Hugh Beale from some shared set of psychologists. As shown
in (33), this latter reading is not possible if the relative clause is omitted.
Here, the head noun must be interpreted as containing the distinguishing
information and the relevant P-set information is determined by the context.
The English it-cleft 87
While nonrestrictive relatives are separated from the rest of the sentence by
commas or pauses, as in (38), the cleft clause does not share this property.
This suggests that, like the restrictive relative clause in (37), the cleft clause
is interpreted as forming a constituent with some other element in the sen-
tence.
However, additional evidence suggests that, unlike restrictive relatives,
the cleft clause does not form a constituent with its immediate antecedent.
The English it-cleft 89
6. As Langacker (1991: 59) points out, a restrictive relative clause can modify a
proper noun only if it is preceded by a determiner, as in (iii). Here, Oliver is
used not to refer to a specific entity, but as a common noun denoting a more
general type person with the name Oliver.
(iii) I just bumped into the Oliver you used to work with
90 It-clefts as specificational copular sentences
This evidence has led many authors suggest that the cleft clause is a
structurally unique type of clause, specific to the cleft configuration. While
the cleft clause exhibits the same internal structure as a restrictive relative,
it does not restrictively modify its immediate antecedent. Consequently,
some have labelled the cleft clause as a type of nonrestrictive relative
clause, despite a lack of correspondence between the cleft clause and other
nonrestrictive relatives (see for instance, Lambrecht 2001). As Huddleston
(1984: 462) comments, this type of analysis is very largely ad hoc the
relative clause is of a kind that is sui generis, unique to this construction.
However, once we assume an extraposition-from-NP analysis of it-
clefts, the seemingly contradictory behaviour of the cleft clause becomes
straightforward and is shown to be consistent with a restrictive relative
analysis. As Jespersen (1937: 83) notes, when talking about his earlier
transposition theory, the cleft clause is felt to be, and is treated like, a
relative clause, though it does not logically restrict the word with which it
is connected. This observation is unproblematic for an extraposition-from-
NP account, since here the cleft clause restrictively modifies the initial it.
Therefore, the antecedent of the cleft clause is not the immediately
preceding clefted constituent, but the cleft pronoun.
As shown in (45), the prosodic structure of it-clefts supports the claim
that the cleft clause forms a discontinuous constituent, and an intonation
unit, with the initial (unstressed) it. As Huddleston (1984: 461) comments,
this type of analysis also allows us to explain the difference in meaning
between superficially similar sentences such as (45) and (46). On this
account, the sentence in (46) is not an it-cleft, but a specificational NP be
NP sentence containing a restrictively modified referring expression. Here,
the NP the doctor who phned me comprises a single intonation unit, with
the noun doctor functioning as the antecedent of the restrictive relative.
What characterizes (45) as an it-cleft then, is the restrictive modification of
the pronoun it.
The English it-cleft 91
(45) Q: Who phoned? A: [It] was the dctor [who phned me]
(46) Q: Who was at the door? A: It was [the doctor who phned me]
Once we treat the cleft pronoun as the antecedent of the cleft clause, we
can also speculate as to why it-clefts permit zero realization of the relative
marker in more contexts than ordinary restrictive relatives. As was noted
above, restrictive relatives cannot normally occur without an overt relative
marker when the relative element functions as the subject of the embedded
clause. For instance, in (47), the relative proposition contains a gap in
subject position which corresponds to the antecedent noun (__phoned me).
Presumably, the problem with such sentences is that they create an unin-
tended garden-path reading in which the modified NP is taken to be a
complete sentence. For instance, in (47) the doctor phoned me is a well-
formed proposition. Here, the VP may not be interpreted as a restrictive
relative ( phoned me) but as predicated of the NP the doctor. In contrast,
for relative clauses with object gaps, as in (48), zero realization of the
relative marker is unproblematic. Since the doctor I phoned is not a well-
formed sentence, it must, in all contexts, be interpreted as a restrictively
modified NP.
(50) And its the grey Altaya still still has it from Young Pretender in
the yellow (S2A-006 176, Channel 4 Racing)
The spontaneous commentary sub-genre of the ICE-GB has been noted for
its high concentration of it-clefts and shows a strong preference for it-clefts
that deviate from the conventional pattern (see Nelson 1997). For instance,
the majority of it-clefts with initial focus, such as (51), are also found in
spoken sports commentaries.
This suggests that the occurrence of it-clefts with zero relatives contain-
ing subject gaps is exceptional and that, in general, it-clefts exhibit the
same preference as other restrictive relative clauses for zero realization in
clauses with non-subject gaps.7 This is exemplified by (52), which contains
two cleft clauses performing different functions. While the first of these
(youd spoken to__) has an object gap and a zero relativizer, the second
clause (who__ spoke to you) has a gap in subject position and seems to
require the occurrence of an overt relative marker.8
(52) Was there some doubt in your mind as to whether it was a lady or
gentleman youd spoken to or who spoke to you
(S1B-006 108, legal cross-examination)
7. As Curme (1931: 186) notes, the that should not be omitted if it is needed to
keep the thought clear, i.e., to indicate the oneness of the words in the subject
[cleft] clause and to maintain the integrity of the group as a distinct grammati-
cal element in contradistinction to other elements in the sentence.
8. The it-cleft in (52) is perhaps predicational rather than specificational, with the
focal element ascribing a property to an individual (see Chapter 5). However,
since I will claim that both varieties of it-cleft exhibit the same discontinuous,
extraposition-from-NP structure, they are equally relevant to the discussion sur-
rounding the realization of the relative marker.
The English it-cleft 93
(53) I said that it should have been Bill who negotiated the new
contract, and it should have been [VP-deletion]
(54) It must have been Fred that kissed Mary but Bill that left with her
[VP-conjunction]
(55) It could have been and it should have been Bill who negotiated
the new contract [right-node-raising]
(56) It must have been, in my opinion, the cyanide that did it
[parenthetical formation]
(57) ?I said that it was Bill that argued the case, and Bill who argued
the case it was [VP-preposing]
(examples from Hedberg 1990: 98, her judgments)
94 It-clefts as specificational copular sentences
However, in what follows, I show that not all of this data is problematic for
a straightforward extraposition-from-NP analysis of the cleft clause and
that not all of these configurations are reliable tests for constituency.
First, it can be argued that examples of VP-deletion, such as (53), relate
to a type of specificational construction different from the it-cleft. In Sec-
tion 1.1, I argued that specificational sentences of the type it be NP are not
truncated it-clefts, in which the cleft clause has been elided or deleted.
Instead, they are simply NP be NP sentences with pronominal subjects.
Assuming an inverse analysis of specificational sentences, the subject it is
therefore a property denoting anaphor which refers back to a predicative
expression (see also Mikkelsen 2007). From this, it follows that the second
instance of it should have been in (53) is not an incomplete it-cleft but an
incomplete it be NP sentence, corresponding to it should have been Bill.
Here, the pronoun it is anaphoric to the description given in the preceding
it-cleft, itwho negotiated the new contract. On this account, (53) involves
the deletion only of the NP Bill rather than the string Bill who negotiated
the new contract. Consequently, (53) cannot be used as evidence for ana-
lysing the clefted constituent and the cleft clause of it-clefts as forming a
syntactic constituent.
Secondly, we can set aside Delahuntys constituency evidence on the
basis that such tests are notoriously unreliable. For instance, Croft (2001)
comments that coordination cannot be depended upon to uncover constitu-
ency. He provides the following examples of English coordinate construc-
tions which support constituents that are not supported by other criteria
(Croft 2001: 189).
As these examples show, it is not only constituents that can conjoin. Croft
suggests that coordinate constructions combine structures which are per-
ceived to have sufficient points of commonality. Coordination therefore
demonstrates evidence of conceptual grouping rather than constituency (see
also Wierzbicka 1980, Ch.7). Consequently, the conjoining of Fred that
kissed Mary with Bill that left with her in (54) is not necessarily indicative
of VP-internal constituency.
Likewise, right-node-raising and parenthetical formation tests can give
false results for constituency. For instance, Hedberg (1990: 98) observes
The English it-cleft 95
(60) Nobody would and nobody could drink instant coffee who
knew anything about espresso [right-node-raising]
(61) Nobody would ever, in my opinion, drink instant coffee, who knew
anything about espresso [parenthetical formation]
(examples from Hedberg 1990: 99)
In each case, the extraposed relative clause who knew anything about
espresso clearly restricts, and is dependent upon, nobody. Nevertheless, on
the assumption that these constructions are reliable tests for constituency,
(60) and (61) indicate that the relative clause is internal to the VP (in bold).
These ordinary extraposed relatives therefore exhibit the same pattern of
behaviour as the it-clefts in (55) and (56) above. Consequently, right-node-
raising and parenthetical formation cannot be used as evidence against an
analysis of it-clefts involving extraposition-from-NP.
This leaves us with VP-fronting (or VP-preposing). As Hedberg (1990)
observes, extraposed relative clauses cannot occur in the VP-fronting con-
struction. On the basis of (62), Hedberg (1990: 99) concludes that the
relation which holds between the cleft pronoun and the cleft clause is not
identical to the relation which holds between an extraposed relative clause
and its NP head.
(62) *I said a candidate would win who had charisma, and win who
had charisma, a candidate did (Hedberg 1990: 99)
However, in what follows, I show that that the agreement patterns of it-
clefts present a far muddier picture than Jespersen portrays here. In truth,
the facts surrounding agreement are very complicated and are difficult to
account for on any one analysis of it-clefts. While the person agreement
evidence is suggestive of an extraposition account (contra Jespersen 1937),
number agreement is more problematic, requiring an ancillary explanation.
According to Jespersen (1937: 84), the pattern shown in (67) represents
the ordinary system of person agreement in it-clefts. Here, the verb in the
cleft clause agrees with the postcopular first person pronoun and the clefted
constituent is in the nominative case. This pattern would suggest that the
clefted element acts as the preposed argument of the proposition expressed
in the cleft clause, I am responsible.
However, Akmajian (1970: 150) finds that the most common agreement
pattern is actually that which is represented by (68). Here, the postcopular
pronoun is in the objective case and the verb in the cleft clause is system-
atically third person, regardless of the clefted constituent.
Akmajian (1970) finds that the majority of speakers consistently adopt the
pattern in (68). Furthermore, all speakers who display the pattern in (67)
nevertheless allow (68) as an acceptable alternative. The remaining speak-
ers in Akmajians data set display the pattern in (69). As in (68), verbal
agreement is consistently third person, but these speakers mark the clefted
element as nominative when no surface subject intervenes between it and
the verb of the clause. As Akmajian (1970: 152) notes, this strategy often
gives the misleading impression of case agreement between the clefted
constituent and the relative element.
So, in all of the different dialects that Akmajian (1970) observes, third
person marking of the embedded verb is customary (and for many speakers
is routine). In only one of the less common dialects is it possible for person
marking to be influenced by agreement with the clefted constituent (contra
Jespersen 1937). Indeed, among it-clefts in the ICE-GB corpus, there are no
examples in which the person marking of the cleft clause has clearly been
98 It-clefts as specificational copular sentences
influenced by that of the clefted constituent; the verb embedded in the cleft
clause allows a third person interpretation in all 404 it-clefts. In contrast,
there are 4 instances in which there is an observable discrepancy between
the person marking of the clefted constituent and that of the cleft clause.
For instance, in (70), the postcopular me is a first person pronoun while the
embedded verb has is an unambiguously third person singular form. Case
aside, this lack of agreement produces the ungrammatical unclefted string
*I has ended up as the criminal.
(70) The irony is, as Linda pointed out, its me thats ended up as the
criminal. (W1B-007 099, social letter)
Akmajian (1970) suggests that such deviations from the expected pat-
tern may result from the use of nominative case as a prestige form. This is
certainly supported by the ICE-GB data. While all 5 tokens with objective
pronouns occur in relatively informal, unplanned modes of communication,
including direct conversation and social letters, nominative case marking is
found in more formal and planned discourses, such as scripted broadcasts,
published works and business letters (see Gmez-Gonzlez and Gonzlvez-
The English it-cleft 99
Garca 2005: 165). However we choose to explain them, the case agree-
ment facts do not represent a strong argument against an extraposition ac-
count of it-clefts; the fact remains that the person agreement data supports a
discontinuous constituent account, such as the one argued for here.
In contrast, number agreement is certainly problematic for this account.
As shown in (73), the embedded verb does not agree in number with the
singular pronoun it, but with the clefted constituent. In the corresponding
th-cleft, on the other hand, the embedded verb also allows plural marking,
but this is in agreement with both the clefted constituent and the plural head
noun ones, shown in (74).
(75) Section 278 of the Highways Act 1980, therefore, provides that if a
highway authority are satisfied that it would be of benefit to the
public (Croft 2001: 127)
100 It-clefts as specificational copular sentences
(76) The group of physicians who are responsible for this mix up has
been ordered to disband.
(77) Its not the frog but the tadpoles which tell us the truth about our
class system (S2B-036 044, BBC Radio 4 debate)
(78) ??The things which tell us the truth about our class system arent
the frog but the tadpoles
9. This is the pattern most often found in wh-clefts. Like the cleft it, what is inher-
ently singular, but can be used to denote a set with plural membership. Typi-
cally, the verb in the cleft clause and the matrix copula agree with the singular
what, as in (iv). However, other times the matrix copula shows agreement with
the postcopular NP, as in (v). This suggests that, for both wh-clefts and it-clefts,
the verb adjacent to what or it will be consistently marked as singular, while the
verb which appears later in the sentence is subject to influence from the sets
plural membership (which is made explicit by the postcopular NP).
(iv) What has made this especially upsetting has been their constant
reassurances and their lack of contrition
(v) What makes something a pencil are superficial characteristics such as a
certain form and function (Partee 1998, citing Higgins p.c.)
102 It-clefts as specificational copular sentences
it-clefts functional and structural properties fall out from this analysis
straightforwardly.
In Section 1.2, I showed that a discontinuous constituent analysis of it-
clefts is very successful at both accounting for and explaining the construc-
tions pragmatic properties. From this perspective, many of the it-clefts
pragmatic characteristics are inherited from the wider specificational inver-
sion construction and conform to the general patterns of correspondence
found in definite NPs. For instance, the fixed focus-structure of it-clefts
was shown to follow from the analysis of specificational meaning as a rein-
terpretation (or information structural variant) of a class-inclusion predica-
tion relation. Likewise, once we invoke Hawkins (1978, 1991) account of
definiteness, the properties of presupposition, exhaustiveness and contrast
are explained as products of the existential, inclusiveness and familiarity
conditions associated with definite NPs.
Section 1.3 examined the it-clefts structural characteristics in relation to
an extraposition-from-NP analysis. It was shown that the behaviour of the
cleft clause and the it-clefts person agreement patterns are consistent with,
and acquire an explanation on, this type of account. Furthermore, the
examination of so-called constituency tests revealed that it-clefts can be
manipulated in many of the same ways as other sentences involving
extraposed relatives. Finally, the number agreement data was identified as
problematic for a discontinuous constituent account. Nevertheless, as
shown in Section 1.3.3, we can account for inconsistencies in the way that
number is marked in it-clefts once we adopt a predicational analysis of
specificational sentences. On this type of analysis, the discontinuous
description is semantically predicative, denoting a set of entities which can
be conceptualized as both singular (in relation to the set) and plural (in
relation to its members). As I explain in Chapter 5, this approach provides
an illuminating way of accounting for differences between specificational
and predicational it-clefts. First, however, in the remaining sections of this
chapter, I situate my account in relation to the current cleft literature.
From this, it follows that the cleft pronoun and (in most accounts) the copu-
lar verb do not play an important role in the interpretation of the sentence.
On expletive accounts then, the cleft it is invariably a semantically explet-
ive element. It is this characteristic that gives this type of analysis its name.
While all expletive accounts adopt this same set of basic assumptions,
authors differ as to how they perceive the relationship between the cleft
clause and the postcopular element and how they think this relationship
comes about. Nevertheless, whether it is achieved underlyingly at deep
structure (Rochemont 1986), via indexing at surface structure (Chomsky
1977; Heggie 1988; Williams 1980), as a result of lambda conversion at the
level of logical form (Delahunty 1982, 1984), or through some combination
of the above (. Kiss 1998), these authors all assume that it-clefts share a
level of representation with simple subject-predicate sentences.
There is of course some evidence for the claim that the clefted element
and the cleft clause form a constituent, including number agreement (see
Section 1.3.3), VP-constituency tests (see Section 1.3.2) and possibly also
syntactic connectedness (see Chapter 3, Section 4.3.2). However, in many
ways, expletive accounts are not as successful as discontinuous constituent
analyses at accounting for the it-clefts characteristics, leaving a number of
questions unresolved.
Expletive accounts tend to take a syntax-centred approach to it-clefts.
As a result, they rarely tackle the issue of how this construction acquires its
pragmatic properties. In Section 1.2, I showed that the characteristics of
existential presupposition, exhaustiveness and contrast result from the
semantic contribution of the cleft it, which performs the same function as
the definite article. However, the cleft pronoun is semantically empty on
expletive accounts. Since the only contentful elements are those found in
the corresponding noncopular sentence, no elements remain that could be
said to generate these pragmatic properties. As a result, it is difficult, on an
expletive account, to explain exactly how the it-clefts meaning differs
from that of its simple sentence paraphrase.
For example, . Kiss (1998) attempts to account for exhaustiveness in
the syntax, as resulting from cleft structure. She claims that exhaustive
identification is a function of structural focus (. Kiss 1998: 251). Identifi-
cational focus (which expresses exhaustive identification) has a designated
syntactic position, occupying the specifier slot of the focus phrase. In .
104 It-clefts as specificational copular sentences
Kiss analysis, the clefted constituent occupies this scope position, thereby
performing two important roles. Syntactically, the clefted constituent
functions as an operator which marks the sentence part following it and c-
commanded by it as the scope of exhaustive identification (. Kiss 1998:
253). Semantically, the clefted element expresses the complete set of
entities for which the predicate in the cleft clause holds. In this way, . Kiss
provides a syntactic explanation for the fact that it-clefts are associated with
exhaustiveness.
However, there are several problems with this account. For one thing, it
is highly idiosyncratic. . Kiss (1998: 258) assumes that exhaustiveness is
dependent upon a syntactic structure which in English is particular to the it-
cleft configuration. However, we have seen, in Section 1.2.3 above, that ex-
haustiveness is found in other specificational copular constructions (which
do not exhibit the cleft structure). Consequently, the account is unable to
capture existing generalizations in the language. Secondly, not all types of
cleft sentence are exhaustive (see Section 1.2.3). Non-exhaustive there-
clefts represent an important exception to the claim that exhaustive identifi-
cation is tied to cleft structure. Instead, they provide support for theories in
which exhaustiveness is signalled by the cleft it.
As shown in Section 1.1, the existence of non-exhaustive there-clefts as
well as deictic demonstrative clefts represents strong evidence against the
claim that the cleft it is semantically expletive, since a change in the cleft
pronoun results in a concomitant change in meaning (see Hedberg 2000).
Without recognizing the semantic contribution of the initial it (and its rela-
tion to the definite article), expletive analyses are unable to account for the
it-clefts pragmatic properties.
The expletive analyses also struggle to account for some of the it-clefts
structural properties. As I explained in Section 1.3.1, the behaviour of the
cleft clause is largely consistent with a restrictive relative analysis, if we
assume that the cleft clause is relative to it. However, if we take the clefted
constituent to be the antecedent, the cleft clause seems to exhibit a range of
contradictory properties which make classification difficult. For some au-
thors, the cleft clause shares only a superficial similarity to relative clauses;
Delahunty (1982), Rochemont (1986) and Heggie (1988) argue that relative
pronouns, like who, only occur in the cleft clause as a result of analogy
with relative clauses. Others, including Chomsky (1977) and Williams
(1980), suggest that the cleft clause has the same internal structure as a
restrictive relative but, since the cleft clause does not restrictively modify
its immediate antecedent, it is said to perform a different function from
other restrictive relatives.
A comparison with expletive accounts of it-clefts 105
On expletive accounts then, the cleft clause cannot be classed with any
known clause type. Although the cleft clause looks and behaves in many
ways like a restrictive relative, it is really a non-modifying sentential
predicate. From this, it follows that the cleft clause is a structurally unique
type of clause, specific to the cleft configuration. However, the expletive
accounts seem to be missing an important generalization here. If the cleft
clause is structured internally like a restrictive relative, then the chances are
it also has a modifying function. If this clause does not modify the clefted
constituent then we have to ask, what does it modify? The discontinuous
constituent account provides us with a suitable answer: the cleft clause
restrictively modifies the cleft pronoun it.
Person agreement data is also problematic for expletive accounts. As I
explained in Section 1.3.3, the verb in the cleft clause typically shows
agreement with the third person pronoun it, rather than with the clefted
constituent, shown in (82), repeated from (68). Such data is especially
awkward for expletive accounts which invoke movement to extract the
clefted constituent out of the cleft clause, including Rochemont (1986),
since these examples do not have corresponding noncopular paraphrases,
demonstrated in (83).
10. Den Dikkens recent work may represent an exception to this claim. He treats
it-clefts as specificational inversion sentences (as do I). On his account, the
initial it is a (meaningless) pro-predicate (which has undergone inversion) and
A comparison with extraposition accounts of it-clefts 107
Akmajian claims that these wh-clauses are generated in the structure given
as (87) below (where what is associated with something). He then invokes a
construction-specific Cleft-Extraposition Rule which extraposes the initial
clause of the wh-cleft to the end of the sentence, leaving the it in subject
position (Akmajian 1970: 161). In some cases, such as (84) above, the wh-
relative must also be replaced by that (Akmajian 1970: 164).
11. Gundel (1977: 557) acknowledges that her Variable Head Deletion rule has no
independent motivation in English, and the fact that it can apply only in ID
[specificational] structures is admittedly suspicious.
A comparison with extraposition accounts of it-clefts 109
For both Akmajian (1970) and Gundel (1977) then, the cleft clause is a
headless relative clause and the cleft pronoun is a semantically redundant
placemarker or pronominal copy for the extraposed (or dislocated) clause.
However, there are two other transformational analyses which argue (as I
do) that the cleft clause forms a definite description with the cleft it. For
example, Wirth (1978) derives it-clefts (and wh-clefts) from copular sen-
tences whose subjects contain relative clauses with the head nouns one or
thing, as in (91). These (th-cleft) structures undergo extraposition, shown in
(92), before restricted nominal reduction applies, which deletes the head
noun. Since the cannot occur without a following noun, shown in (93), it
must be inserted instead. Wirth (1978: 60) claims that it is a syntactic
variant of the, appearing when there is no head noun in the NP.
(91) The thing which (that) struck the house was lightening
(92) The thing was lightening which (that) struck the house
(93) It(*The) was lightening which (that) struck the house
(examples adapted from Wirth 1978)
From this, it follows that the it-cleft in (96) is derived from the structure in
(97). Here, it functions as the nominal head of the restrictive relative that he
stole. While inversion is optional for (95), it applies obligatorily when the
nominal of the main clause is it, as in (97) (Bolinger 1972: 110).
110 It-clefts as specificational copular sentences
12. Other early analyses which foreshadow later discontinuous constituent accounts
include Jespersens (1927) transposition theory (see Chapter 1, Section 2.2)
and also Fowler and Fowlers (1908) discussion of itthat. For instance,
Fowler and Fowler analyse the it-cleft It is money that I want in relation to the
sentence It (the thing) that I want is money, where the antecedent it followed
by a defining relative clause with that...gives us the subject of a predication.
A comparison with extraposition accounts of it-clefts 111
(101) [IP [DP [D it]]i [I' [I wask] [VP [DP [DP Max] [CPi [whoj] [C' tj won]]]]]]
For Hedberg (2000) then, the cleft clause is semantically related to the
cleft pronoun, but forms a syntactic constituent with the clefted element,
inside the VP. This allows Hedberg to capture (most of) the generalizations
afforded by a discontinuous constituent account, without coming up against
Delahuntys (1982) VP constituency evidence. However, as was shown in
Section 1.3.2, it-clefts behave like other sentences containing extraposed
13. This aspect of Hedbergs analysis is not supported by the historical evidence. In
earlier periods of the language, the pronoun it sometimes occurs as the imme-
diate antecedent of a restrictive relative (see Chapter 6).
14. Hedberg (1990) offers a different syntactic analysis, in which the cleft clause
(analysed as a restrictive relative) adjoins to an embedded VP rather than a DP.
Nevertheless, on both accounts, the cleft clause forms a constituent with the
clefted element within VP, following Delahunty (1982).
112 It-clefts as specificational copular sentences
15. For instance, Reeve (2010: 5657) suggests that it-clefts with reduced relatives,
such as (vi) pattern with object relatives rather than subject relatives. While
many authors have observed that extraposed relatives cannot normally be
reduced, shown in (vii), Reeve claims that this is only true for subject relatives,
providing the grammatical example (of a reduced extraposed object relative) in
(viii) (see also Reeve 2012: 39).
However, this data is not straightforward, since the intervening element in (viii)
is not comparable to that in (vii). Once we put a concrete NP between the
extraposed clause and its antecedent, as in (ix), the reduced object relative
becomes less grammatical. Furthermore, extraposed subject relatives become
more acceptable in contexts without this intervening NP, as in (x). This sug-
gests that the restrictions on extraposed reduced relatives are based on garden-
path ambiguities, which the it-cleft is not subject to (see also Section 1.3.1).
In this section, we have seen that the account of it-clefts developed in this
chapter follows a long tradition of treating the cleft clause as being in some
way related to the cleft pronoun. However, not all of these accounts assume
(as I do) that the cleft clause and the cleft pronoun form a discontinuous
definite description, including Akmajian (1970) and Gundel (1977). Of the
ones that do, not all claim (as I do) that the initial it is restrictively modified
by the cleft clause, including Hedberg (2000), Percus (1997) and Wirth
(1978). Furthermore, many of the more recent accounts, such as Han and
Hedberg (2008) Hedberg (2000) and Reeve (2010), claim that the cleft
clause also forms a syntactic constituent with the clefted element. For these
authors then, the it-cleft configuration is not a straightforward case of extra-
position-from-NP (as I have argued). Consequently, the analysis presented
here is perhaps most similar to Bolingers (1972) transformational account
(see Section 3.1).
As I explained in Section 3.2, the most recent discontinuous constituent
accounts combine elements of both extraposition and expletive analyses in
order to account for the it-clefts contradictory properties. However, it is
often difficult to see how the two disparate aspects of these analyses come
together under a cohesive account. As we have seen, the best of both
approach results in some very complicated analyses, which invoke a host of
construction-specific devices to sanction the it-clefts distinctive behaviour.
Consequently, it might be better to account for some of these phenomena in
A comparison with constructional accounts of it-clefts 115
I show that while each of these accounts makes reference to some of the
basic claims and concepts that underlie the constructional framework, they
overlook some of the explanatory objectives which the theory was designed
to meet.
For example, Lambrecht (2001) puts forward an expletive account of it-
clefts, which is largely based on Jespersens (1937) analysis. Specifically,
Lambrecht (2001: 472) agrees with Jespersen that the sequence it isand
the connective pronoun or marker (when present) do not enter fully into the
semantic composition of the sentence. For Lambrecht (2001: 470) then,
the it-clefts main function is as a syntactic focusing device, with it and be
providing the pragmatic role of focus marker (see also Section 1.2.1). On
his account, the gap in the cleft clause is coindexed with the clefted con-
stituent and the cleft clause is a kind of nonrestrictive relative, in that it has
the internal structure of a restrictive relative clause but does not modify its
antecedent (see also Section 1.3.1). In this way, Lambrecht (2001: 473)
simply extends the taxonomy of relative clauses to encompass the specific
type of clause found in it-clefts.
Lambrecht (2001: 466) claims that his approach is constructional, in that
the it-cleft is treated as a noncompositional configuration, with properties
that require independent explanation. For instance, on his account, the it-
cleft involves a complexity mismatch, expressing a simple proposition via
biclausal syntax (Lambrecht 2001: 466), it contains a construction-specific
type of relative clause, and it has pragmatic properties which are associated
with the construction as a whole (rather than attributed to any individual
component). Lambrechts analysis is therefore constructional in the sense
that he believes, as I do, that the concept and architecture of the construc-
tion is extremely useful for the study of specialized linguistic patterns, such
as the it-cleft.
However, while Lambrecht extends his analysis to pseudoclefts (arguing
that initial what and the one are also semantically inert dummy elements,
see Chapter 3, Section 4.3), he does not situate the it-cleft within a hierar-
chical network of constructions and does not exploit a system of inherit-
ance. As Goldberg notes, constructional taxonomies are organized in a way
that prioritizes similarities of surface form (Goldberg 2006: 23) and aspects
of meaning that go beyond truth-conditional synonymy (Goldberg 1995:
103). By examining it-clefts in relation to truth-conditional paraphrases
which are both formally and functionally less complex, Lambrechts ac-
count does not identify (what I believe are) the key generalizations shared
among the family of copular constructions, and instead emphasizes the it-
clefts idiosyncratic and irregular properties.
A comparison with constructional accounts of it-clefts 117
Unlike Lambrecht, Davidse (2000) does not assume that it-clefts are
semantically equivalent to their noncopular counterparts and instead claims
that both the matrix clause and cleft clause contribute to the constructions
representational semantics. For Davidse, the matrix clause is an identifying
clause; in other words, it functions as a specificational copular sentence.
Using Hallidays (1967) terminology, Davidse labels the pronoun it as the
identified and the clefted constituent as the identifier. In many ways, this is
akin to a value-variable relation. As Davidse (2000: 1121) comments, The
identified can be likened to the unknown x in a mathematical equation
and the identifier to its actual value in that equation.
Davidse (2000: 1125) suggests that the definite pronoun it also performs
a quantifying role, imposing an exhaustively specifying value onto the
complement of be via equation. The relative clause then takes this comple-
ment (which has been exhaustively quantified) as its antecedent, incorpo-
rating it into a value-variable relation, as defined by Declerck (1988). In
other words, the clefted element constitutes the specific value, or total set
of instances, for the variable or entity involved in the situation designated
by the relative clause (Davidse 2000: 1125). Davidse (2000: 1128) pro-
vides evidence that the cleft clause is neither a restrictive nor a nonrestric-
tive relative and concludes that the relationship between the cleft clause and
its antecedent has a special status.
Davidses constructional account is therefore much more compositional
than Lambrechts (2001), but is in many ways just as idiosyncratic. Like
Lambrecht, she argues that it-clefts can and should be analyzed as
constructions in their own right (Davidse 2000: 1124). This leads Davidse
to claim that it-clefts contain a construction-specific type of relative clause
and that they are properly biclausal, with each clause entering into a
different semantic relationship with the clefted constituent. Davidse (2000:
1127) concludes that it-clefts do not simply express specification - they
SPECIFYINSTANCES AS VALUES CORRESPONDING TO A VARIABLE
(emphasis original). On Davidses account then, specificational meaning is
marked twice: once by the identifying matrix clause and once by the value-
variable relationship expressed by the relative clause. However, aside from
being uneconomical, this is also unnecessary: it increases the complexity of
the it-cleft structure in a way that is not supported by inheritance from the
language system.
Paveys (2004) Role and Reference Grammar analysis also makes use of
the construction as a unit of grammatical knowledge. Following Declerck
(1988), Pavey suggests that it-clefts involve a value-variable relationship,
in which the postcopular element provides the value for the variable
118 It-clefts as specificational copular sentences
described by the cleft clause. She notes that the relationship between the
cleft clause and the rest of the it-cleft construction results in a sens global
particulier that will be characterized differently from both restrictive and
non-restrictive relative clauses (Pavey 2004: 201). For the matrix clause,
Pavey adopts a simple predicational structure, in which the postcopular
referring expression acts as a kind of pragmatic predicate (a concept
borrowed from Lambrecht (1994: 231)). She claims that that the clefted
constituent value modifies the variable expressed by the cleft clause
[and]assists the hearer in making a full identification of the under-
specified argument in the cleft clause (Pavey 2004: 200). The syntactic
argument of this postcopular predicate is the non-referring cleft pronoun,
which, for Pavey, serves only to reflect the main specificational function of
the sentence.
On Paveys (2004) account then, the it-cleft is a highly idiosyncratic
construction. Not only is the syntactic predicate a referring expression and
the syntactic argument a non-referring pronoun, but, the clefted constituent
is also a pragmatic predicate, involved in a relation of identification (rather
than predication) with the presupposed cleft clause. For Pavey (2003: 12)
then, the structure, meaning and function of it-clefts is particularly com-
plex since there is no straightforwardly isomorphic link between the vari-
ous elements at the syntactic, semantic and the pragmatic level. On top of
this, the cleft clause is related to the rest of the sentence in a way that is
both syntactically and semantically idiosyncratic and the cleft it has a
construction-specific meaning. Pavey (2004: 254) makes use of the concept
of the construction primarily as a way of housing these idiosyncratic
properties; she notes that These idiosyncrasies of the construction require
special conditions and these are stated in the constructional template.
Paveys reliance on construction-specific phenomena is to some extent
unexpected, since she views the it-cleft, as I do, as one of a family of
copular constructions, and as a specificational construction in particular
(Pavey 2004: 189). Nevertheless, Pavey (2004: 187) notes that her it-cleft
analysis is not consistent with either equative or inverse accounts of speci-
ficational sentences. Furthermore, the it-cleft is syntactically distinct, since
it does not contain two noun phrases connected by the copula (Pavey
2004: 185).16 For Pavey then, the only thing that it-clefts share with other
16. This syntactic difference is also present in Declercks (1988) original analysis.
He notes that while the subject NP of a specificational NP be NP sentence
contains a variable x, shown as the head noun in (xi), the x variable is not
represented in the it-clefts syntactic form. In such sentences, the clefted ele-
A comparison with constructional accounts of it-clefts 119
ment provides the value for the variable described by the cleft clause, shown in
(xii) (Declerck 1988: 185).
(1) He asks God to disperse these mists, which blot and fill My
perspective still as they pass; Or else remove me hence unto that
hill Where I shall need no glass. It is a beautiful image which is
presented here, it is one of longing.
(W1A-018 061, student examination script)
(2) It is a long road that has no turning
Beyond the archetypal it-cleft 121
However, since the same range of potential focal elements is not shared by
the different specificational constructions, this property cannot be attributed
to inheritance. Nevertheless, in Section 3, I show that an inverse account is
very good at explaining why some elements make better it-cleft foci than
others and I suggest that historical evidence may be useful in showing how
a construction-specific category of it-cleft foci has emerged.
There is further variation in the discourse-status of the cleft clause. Typ-
ically, this component expresses discourse-old information. A very clear
example is given in (4). Here, the fact that someone communicates about
the threat of war is given in the immediate discourse.
(4) Who communicates about the threat and for what purposes? The
answer is extremely simple. It is domestic politicians who commu-
nicate about the threat in order to mobilise public support for their
own policy and power base. (W2A-017 030, academic writing)
(5) It was 200 years ago this month that Lewis and Clark reached the
Pacific Ocean
(Chicago Tribune, 23/11/05 [Birner, Kaplan, and Ward 2007: 323])
Perhaps because they are less common than their specificational counter-
parts, predicational (and proverbial) it-clefts are rarely discussed in the cleft
literature and many authors do not recognize them. For example, Gundel
(1977: 547) claims that the specificational-predicational distinction is not
applicable to it-clefts, which can only have an ID [identifying] interpreta-
tion. Furthermore, authors who do discuss these predicational tokens often
treat them as forming a distinct and unrelated sentence-type. For example,
Ball (1977: 68) claims that predicational (including proverbial) it-clefts are
superficially similar but syntactically unrelated to specificational it-clefts.
Likewise, Lambrecht (2001: 502503), who discusses only the proverbial
examples, suggests that they cannot be analysed as true cleft sentences.
Declerck (1983b, 1988) provides a more complicated analysis, in that he
treats proverbial and predicational it-clefts as separate constructions. While
the proverbial examples are said to represent a type of their own, different
from genuine clefts (Declerck 1983b: 16), Declerck integrates the non-
proverbial predicational tokens into his analysis of specificational it-clefts,
all the time maintaining that the it-cleft is essentially specificational in
nature (Declerck 1983b: 18).
1. The analysis and arguments put forward in this section were originally pre-
sented as a conference paper at the Cleft08 workshop, Berlin (see Patten 2008).
Predicational (and proverbial) it-clefts 123
On this basis, Lambrecht (2001: 503) suggests that the construction has a
noncleft status, since, for him, the concept cleft is inextricably tied to the
124 Other varieties of it-cleft
We have seen then that the expletive approach cannot be applied to the
proverbial it-cleft. As Lambrecht (2001: 502) observes, it is a construction
whose subsumption under our cleft definition poses serious problems. The
proponents of this approach are therefore forced to examine specificational
and proverbial tokens in relation to two different sentence-types, only one
of which has an NP be NP structure. Unsurprisingly, this results in two dif-
ferent analyses, involving differences in the status of the cleft clause. In a
circular line of argumentation, this is then used as evidence that the prover-
bial examples should be treated as forming a structurally distinct sentence
type from the specificational it-cleft.
The situation becomes even less clear when we consider non-proverbial
predicational tokens, such as (1) above, reproduced in part here as (10). As
Ball (1977: 61) notes, these examples pattern with proverbial it-clefts in
that they also correspond to predicational copular sentences, shown in (11).
Ball therefore analyses all it-clefts with a predicational meaning in the same
way, as forming a sentence-type distinct from the it-cleft proper.
2. Ball (1991: 149) employs similar criteria; she notes that the predicational cleft
is a construction distinct from the specificational cleft, which can be uncleft.
Predicational (and proverbial) it-clefts 125
Declerck suggests that the reason why examples like (10) are felt to be
predicational is that the adjective constitutes the only new information: the
rest of the NP is presupposed, representing information that is given or
known. On this account, the predicational meaning of these specificational
it-clefts comes about more or less accidentally (Declerck 1983b: 38).
Thus, from Declercks analysis of these predicational tokens, the claim
that it-clefts are fundamentally specificational in nature can be maintained.
However, Declerck concedes that there are some examples which must be
analysed as purely, rather than partly, predicational it-clefts. For example,
in (13), the head noun issue represents old information: what is new is that
this issue has now become important. However, the fact that become is
used instead of be makes it impossible to maintain that the focal NP as a
whole is specificational (Declerck 1983b: 38). Likewise, the presence of
no in (14) indicates that the entire NP, including the head noun idiot, is ex-
clusively predicational. Declerck (1983b: 18) notes that the substitution
of no for not a in a postcopular NP is possible only if the NP in question is
predicational (more specifically, if it expresses a property).
126 Other varieties of it-cleft
the status of the proverbial it-cleft is called into question. If predicational it-
clefts are possible, why should the proverbial examples, which also have a
predicational meaning, require a separate analysis? In conclusion then, the
expletive approach is not well-suited to the treatment of predicational
varieties of it-cleft, including the proverbial tokens. It encourages authors
either to overstate the structural differences between predicational and
specificational it-clefts, or to overlook their differences in meaning.
However, as Hedberg (1990, 2000) and Han and Hedberg (2008) observe,
the existence of predicational it-clefts becomes predictable on an account
which views it-clefts as copular constructions, since, as we saw in Chapter
3, noncleft NP be NP sentences also come in both specificational and predi-
cational varieties, shown in (16) and (17) below.
(18) What John said was that he could use a drink [specificational]
128 Other varieties of it-cleft
be inversion construction
Predicate nominal
construction
Specificational
inversion construction
Specificational non-
It-cleft schema inversion construction
Proverbial it-cleft
schema
Figure 9. Incorporating predicational and proverbial it-clefts into a taxonomy of
constructions involving nominal predication
3. Further evidence that there are two different types of it-cleft (predicational and
specificational) becomes apparent when embedding under consider. Specifica-
tional it-clefts, like other specificational inversion sentences, require the overt
presence of to be when occurring in this environment, shown in (ii) (see also
Chapter 3, footnote 10). However, predicational it-clefts pattern with other pre-
130 Other varieties of it-cleft
(i) I consider his best friend *(to be) John [specificational inversion]
(ii) I considered it *(to be) John who is his best friend
(iii) I consider John (to be) his best friend [predicational NP be NP]
(iv) I consider it (to be) an interesting subject that they are discussing tonight
(examples from Declerck 1983b: 30)
Predicational (and proverbial) it-clefts 131
So far, then, we have seen that predicational (and proverbial) it-clefts can
be successfully accounted for assuming the analysis of it-clefts and copular
constructions developed over Chapters 3 and 4. This represents an improve-
ment on the expletive approach of Ball (1977), Declerck (1983b, 1988) and
Lambrecht (2001), where the specificational-predicational distinction in it-
clefts is eliminated rather than explained. However, as we saw in Chapter 4,
Section 3.2, there are alternative discontinuous constituent accounts in the
cleft literature, of which some have been argued to be able to accommodate
predicational it-clefts (see especially Han and Hedberg 2008). Where they
132 Other varieties of it-cleft
4. Den Dikken (2009) also uses this evidence to show that while the cleft pronoun
of specificational it-clefts is (for him) a pro-predicate, the initial it of predica-
tional it-clefts is a referential pronoun.
5. However, Birner, Kaplan and Ward (2007) propose a particular type of equa-
tive analysis which they argue can account for such data. Focusing on demon-
strative clefts (in our terminology), they analyse the cleft pronoun that and the
clefted constituent as semantically referring expressions. The authors suggest
that clefts with plural foci can only occur with singular subject pronouns if
there is an open proposition (OP) in the discourse. They claim that in such sen-
tences, that refers to the instantiation of the variable in the OP, rather than to
134 Other varieties of it-cleft
So far, the account developed here has focused on the level of correspon-
dence between it-clefts (of both specificational and predicational varieties)
and sentences of the type NP be NP. As a result, the discussion has centred
on it-clefts with noun phrases in the postcopular position. However, while
such examples are known to represent the most common variety, specifica-
tional it-clefts can occur with a range of clefted elements, such as preposi-
tional phrases, clauses and adverb phrases, shown in (30), (31) and (32),
respectively.
the plural entities in the discourse or situational context; this variable is singular
regardless of the cardinality of its instantiation (Birner, Kaplan and Ward
2007: 330). However, the existence of a salient OP is not as reliable as the
specificational-predicational distinction in predicting the form of the subject
pronoun in clefts with plural foci: specificational tokens with plural foci occur
with singular subject pronouns even in discourse initial position (despite the ab-
sence of a salient OP). Nevertheless, some aspects of this analysis come close
to the account of number agreement argued for here; on both accounts, the cleft
pronoun relates to a singular concept rather than referring to plural individuals.
It-clefts with non-nominal foci 135
6. For Reeve (2010: 54), the impossibility of predicational it-clefts with adjectival
predicates supports his claim that the cleft clause syntactically modifies the
clefted constituent; he suggests that (v) is ruled out because the clefted AP
feline does not correspond to the gap in the cleft clause, shown in (vi). He
notes that for other discontinuous constituent accounts, on which (v) corre-
sponds to the predicational copular sentence in (vii), the judgment of ungram-
maticality is mysterious (see also Reeve 2012: 3537). However, on the
account argued for here, in which it-clefts always involve nominal predication,
the impossibility of (v) is explained easily.
(34) It was with a knife that I cut it (Fowler and Fowler 1908)
(35) The way that I cut it was with a knife
(36) How I cut it was with a knife
8. As Delin notes (1989: 60), a restrictive relative analysis for it-clefts with
nominal foci is not uncontroversial on the expletive approach, since relative
clauses cannot ordinarily modify full NPs (see also Chapter 4, Section 1.3.1).
Likewise, on the account argued for here, the restrictive modification of pro-
nominal it awaits further justification (see Chapter 6).
It-clefts with non-nominal foci 137
9. For other attempts to account for it-clefts without pseudocleft sources from
within a transformational analysis, see Emonds (1976) and Gundel (1977).
138 Other varieties of it-cleft
Partee (2004a: 199) chooses to leave the question of what licenses the
proposed zero-morphology of unusual on the specificational reading of
(42) unanswered. However, the evidence suggests that nominalization is
It-clefts with non-nominal foci 139
On the account presented here, we might say that by contrasting sick with
tired, the latter is conceived of as a distinct property (situated among a
restricted background set of related properties), which uniquely matches the
description it (the thing) that he was, and so comprises the membership of
this set.
Likewise, focusing adverbs often serve to make characteristically non-
referring foci more acceptable. For instance, the adverb only improves the
acceptability of the AdvP-focus it-cleft in (45) by placing the manner
adverb gradually in relation to some excluded alternatives (see also (41)).
(45) And its only gradually that people with the qualities required for
success in a command economy can develop the qualities that are
required to survive in a free market economy
(S2B-047 068, non-broadcast, scripted speech)
the modifier itself takes over the role of previous discourse, and enables
the hearer to identify some set of objects within which he is to locate the
referent (Hawkins 1978: 149).10 For instance, while (49) does not require
that the hearer has prior knowledge of the woman in question, (50), without
the relative clause, does presuppose familiarity on the hearers part.
(49) Whats wrong with Bill? Oh, the woman he went out with last
night was nasty to him.
(50) The woman was nasty to him. (examples from Hawkins 1978: 131)
For Hawkins (1991: 411), the reason for this difference is that (49) contains
an establishing relative clause which extends the relevant P-set information
(the facts and entities contingently associated with Bill) in a way that is
compatible with the hearers knowledge. In order to accomplish this, the
hearer-new entity (the woman) must be explicitly related or anchored to
an individual who IS mutually known in this case to Bill (Hawkins 1991:
411, emphasis original).
However (and here we come to the second complication), definite NPs
in specificational sentences do not appear to share this same range of unfa-
miliar uses. For instance, it would undoubtedly seem strange to utter (51) if
the referent that satisfies the description woman he went out with last night
were not at issue; that is, if the information that Bill went out with a woman
last night were not already known.
(51) The woman he went out with last night was Cathy Martin
10. For Abbott (2004: 137), this represents a further difficulty with Gundel, Hed-
berg and Zacharskis (1993, 2001) model. On their hierarchy of cognitive sta-
tuses, it is the article which encodes degree of accessibility. However, Abbott
notes that this approach does not satisfactorily explain why more accessible
referents require less descriptive information in the NP and vice versa.
144 Other varieties of it-cleft
Martin uniquely; in other words, that Cathy Martin represents the member-
ship of the (potentially singleton) set of women he went out with last night.
(52) A woman he went out with last night was Cathy Martin
(53) CATHY MARTIN was the woman he went out with last night
(54) This is Cathy. Cathys the woman he went out with last night.
The suggestion here is that the audience should already know that someone
once said, Laws are silent at times of war. From this, it follows that the
informative-presupposition it-cleft cannot be explained as a straightforward
product of inheritance, nor does it seem to be governed purely by the word
order considerations which result from the extraposed position of the rela-
tive clause (contra Abbott 2000: 1429).
146 Other varieties of it-cleft
5. Summary
At this point, we begin our investigation into the history and diachrony of
the English it-cleft. In the remaining chapters, I show how, once we look
beyond inheritance from the present-day language system, we can find an
explanation for some of the residual construction-specific properties which
remain unaccounted for on our analysis. Before investigating the develop-
ment of, and changes to, the construction in Chapter 7, I begin, in this chap-
ter, with a consideration of the properties that have stayed the same over
time. Here, I examine the it-clefts structural idiosyncrasies in relation to
the language system of earlier periods of English.
As I explained in Chapter 4, there are some aspects of the discontinuous
constituent account of it-clefts that remain a puzzle. On this analysis, the
cleft clause is a restrictive relative clause, which modifies the cleft pronoun
it. However, we have already seen (in Chapter 4, Section 1.3.1) that proper
names and pronouns cannot normally be modified by restrictive relatives.
How then do we explain this fundamental structural property, which has
played an instrumental role in our analysis so far? A further difficulty is the
extraposed position of the cleft clause. While extraposed relative clauses
are not uncommon, extraposition-from-NP is not normally obligatory. In it-
clefts, however, the cleft clause cannot appear in a position adjacent to its
pronominal antecedent. The success of a discontinuous constituent account
therefore depends on an answer to the question, why is the relative clause
always extraposed?
The final puzzle of interest to us here relates to agreement. As we have
seen in Chapter 4, Section 1.3.3, the person agreement data largely supports
a discontinuous constituent account, in that the verb in the cleft clause
typically agrees with the third person pronoun it. Number agreement, on the
other hand, seems to follow the opposite pattern, with the embedded verb
agreeing with plural foci, rather than with the inherently singular pronoun
it. In order to account for these agreement facts, I suggested that in it-clefts
with plural foci, the discontinuous description is interpreted as a kind of
collective entity that is, as having both singular and plural conceptualiza-
tions. In Chapter 5, Section 2, I showed that this analysis neatly accounts
The early history of the English it-cleft 149
for the fact that number agreement works differently in specificational and
predicational it-clefts. Nevertheless, we have yet to provide any real evi-
dence for it. The question remains, why is number agreement in it-clefts not
straightforward?
In this chapter, I provide an answer for each of the above questions by
outlining the relevant historical evidence. In many ways, my approach here
follows from Declercks (1983b: 15) suggestion that the proverbial it-cleft
configuration is reminiscent of an older stage in the English language. On
the assumption that proverbial, predicational and specificational it-clefts
share the same discontinuous constituent structure (see Chapter 5, Section
2), it follows that the it-cleft schema may itself be characterized as a his-
torical remnant, which better reflects the language system of earlier periods
of English.
The chapter is structured as follows. In Section 2, I outline the early
history of the it-cleft construction, discussing the various debates over its
first attestation. I then go on, in Sections 3, 4 and 5, to address each of the
three problem cases in turn: the restrictive modification of the pronoun it,
the obligatory extraposition of the cleft clause and the unusual pattern of
number agreement. In Section 6, I examine some new evidence which is
specific to the historical data that of gender agreement. We will see that
the it-clefts early gender agreement patterns represent very clear evidence
in support of a discontinuous constituent account. Finally, in Section 7, I
provide an account of the constructions origin and diachronic development
which is consistent with the historical evidence. I conclude that the it-cleft
structure has become increasingly idiosyncratic over time, not as a result of
any internal changes, but in relation to the surrounding language system.
(1) A-bidez, quath is holie man: ore louerd is guod and freo.
e deuel it is at bringuth is wedur
150 The it-cleft and earlier periods of English
Stay, said this holy man, our Lord is good and free. The devil it is
that brings this weather
(1280-90 South English Legendary [Ball 1991: 158])
Balls findings are supported by the observations of both Visser (1963) and
Mitchell (1985a). For instance, Visser (1963: 49) does not identify any Old
English cleft tokens with it (or hit); he notes that hit is omitted in Old
English, or its place is taken by t. Likewise, Mitchell (1985a: 622)
does not find any Old English examples corresponding to the modern use
of it to give emphasis, as in Its food that I want. He elaborates, This
is not surprising, since OE achieves the same emphasis by giving the noun
initial position, providing the example given as (2) below (Mitchell 1985a:
622). Visser (1963: 49) cites this same example as an OE cleft, without hit.
In proposing her origin story for the Early Middle English it-cleft, it seems
that Ball is influenced by the accounts of Visser and Mitchell. She suggests
that the specificational it-cleft developed out of this Old English NP beon
relative clause configuration due to the rise of expletive subjects in Middle
English. She notes, the focused subject [of (2), min fder] becomes the
predicate complement and dummy hit appears in its place (Ball 1991: 68).
Recently, however, Filppula (2009) has reconsidered the Old English
evidence, extracting tokens from the York-Toronto-Helsinki Parsed Corpus
of Old English Prose (YCOE). He concludes that YCOE contains several
clear examples of clefts with hit that can be considered specificational in
meaning and hence genuine instances of it-clefts (Filppula 2009: 277).
Although I adopt a very different methodology from Filppula (see Chapter
7, Section 2), I agree with him on this point. I have identified seven tokens
in the YCOE that clearly warrant a specificational it-cleft analysis, includ-
ing (3) below.
(3) & cyde hit am Iudean. t hit wre se hlend e hyne hlde.
(cowsgosp,Jn_[WSCp]:5.15.6088)
[The man went away] and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had
healed him. (Ball 1991: 40)
The early history of the English it-cleft 151
Interestingly, this token also appears in Balls data. However, she analyses
it (and other similar examples) as having a subtly different function as well
as a different structure from the it-cleft proper (see Ball 1991: 6367). I
discuss this aspect of Balls analysis, and identify several problems with it,
in Section 6 of this chapter.
The YCOE data also includes six examples of the predicational it-cleft
construction, including (4). In this token, Zosimus incorrectly classifies the
individual praying as a spirit rather than as a living being. A predicational
interpretation for (4) is confirmed when, later in the text, the individual in
question (who turns out to be St. Mary of Egypt) says ic nan gast ne eom
ac merge and axe and eall flsc (I am no spirit, but embers and ashes,
and all flesh (Skeat 1881a: 21)). Here, the NP spirit is clearly used to
express a property rather than to refer to an individual.
Ball (1991) agrees that such tokens represent early examples of the present-
day predicational it-cleft. On Balls analysis then, the specificational it-cleft
is a more recent construction than the predicational it-cleft; for her, the two
types of it-cleft are therefore both structurally and historically distinct (see
Chapter 5, Section 2.1).
The present-day demonstrative cleft is also attested in Old English. For
example, Ball (1991) identifies several Old English tokens with the struc-
ture t/is NP beon relative clause, including (5) and (6) below. The data
is comprised of both specificational and predicational tokens. For instance,
(5) seems to me to be a clear occurrence of a specificational that-cleft.
Likewise, (6) is analysed by Ball (1991: 38) as an OE predicational this-
cleft containing an indefinite NP predicate. Here, the vision revealed to the
young man is described as being a wonderful vision.
As noted above, in Section 1, the cleft structure is unusual in that the cleft
clause restrictively modifies the cleft pronoun. However, though atypical, it
should be noted that restrictively modified pronouns do occur in present-
day English, albeit in restricted environments. For example, relative clauses
can restrict the very general type specification of indefinite pronouns,
shown in (7). Furthermore, for some speakers, definite object pronouns can
be followed by reduced relatives in expressions such as (8) and (9) below.
definite description (akin to the one who laughs last), which is used to refer
to a hypothetical entity.
1. I follow Ball (1991) and Declerck (1988) among others in describing pronouns
modified in this way as determinative. However, Curme (1931) uses the term in
a slightly different sense from other authors. He suggests that the clausal com-
ponent in it-clefts and other determinative pronoun constructions is a subject
clause rather than a restrictive relative. On this account, the cleft it and other
determinatives serve as anticipatory subject[s], pointing to the following sub-
ject clause (Curme 1931: 188).
154 The it-cleft and earlier periods of English
(or t and is), it could also, at one time, function as a determinative pro-
noun. In the Middle English examples below, (h)it occurs as the immediate
antecedent of a restrictive relative clause.
(14) forhohe forte don hit t te unche uuel of & eil forte heren.
(c1220-25 CMHALI,142.261)
...unless they scorn to do what they think wrong and ill to hear of
(Cockayne 1866: 24)
(15) is is it at setti ee in silence
This is what sets you in silence
(e15th The Book of Privy Counselling [Ball 1991: 59])
According to Ball (1991: 59), the determinative use of it does not appear
until Early Middle English; she states that Hit, to my knowledge, does not
occur in construction with a relative clause in OE. However, the YCOE
contains 16 tokens in which a relative clause is analysed as having the ante-
cedent hit, all of which involve extraposed relatives, as in (16) and (17).
While these extraposed clauses could be independent from, yet coreferen-
tial with, hit, we cannot rule out a determinative interpretation, on which hit
is restrictively modified. At the very least, these tokens are relevant to an
extraposition analysis of it-clefts and suggest that a determinative use of it
may have originated in such extraposition structures (see also Section 4).
(i) a escade paul to mihhal hwet e alde mon were. a cwe mihhal heh
angel he wes an biscop on eore liue
Then Paul asked Michael who the old man was. Then said Michael the
Archangel: He was a bishop in the other life
(1185-1225 Lambeth Homilies [Ball 1991: 25])
156 The it-cleft and earlier periods of English
In conclusion then, the evidence from Old and Middle English provides
a suitable historical context for the discontinuous constituent analysis of it-
and demonstrative clefts argued for here. We have seen that the restrictive
modification of pronouns was once a much more productive pattern, with
it, that and this occurring in positions adjacent to modifying relatives. Fur-
thermore, we have found that the pronoun it could at one time be used with
human reference. This explains just how it is possible for discontinuous
descriptions headed by neuter it to describe or refer to human entities in
specificational and predicational it-clefts respectively, as shown in (3) and
(20) above. Finally, we have found that it, like that and this, may have been
used determinatively since Old English, occurring in sentences with extra-
posed relatives, and that the more regular determinative pronouns he and
she can, like the cleft it, occur with extraposed relative clauses, as in (21).
This historical evidence provides support for a discontinuous constituent
(or extraposition-from-NP) analysis of both the earliest OE cleft tokens and
their present-day counterparts. Most authors agree that at least some types
of it-cleft require an analysis on which the pronoun it has a determinative
function. While Declerck (1983b, 1988) limits this analysis to proverbial it-
clefts and Ball (1977, 1991) applies it to her predicational tokens as well as
to all types of Old English demonstrative cleft, the historical facts provide
equal evidence in support of a determinative analysis for the specificational
it-cleft subtype. They show without doubt that the proposed cleft structure,
on which an extraposed relative clause restrictively modifies the cleft pro-
noun, was motivated by the language system of earlier periods of English,
inheriting properties from the then productive determinative pronoun
construction and conforming to historical uses of the pronoun it.
An obligatorily extraposed relative clause? 157
3. In addition to its extraposed position, the present-day cleft clause may also have
retained another trait of the early English relative clause. Fischer et al. (2000:
93) note that in Old and Middle English, zero relatives were most common
where the antecedent acts as the subject of the proposition in the relative clause,
as in (ii). While zero-subject restrictive relatives are no longer found in present-
day English, Fischer et al. (2000: 94) note that the early tokens closely resem-
ble the zero-type still acceptable in it-clefts and there be sentences (see Chap-
ter 4, Section 1.3.1).
4. See also Francis (2010), who finds that relative weight is a significant factor in
the extraposition of relative clauses in present-day English.
5. There is one example in the PPCME2 in which it + relative clause functions as
a left-dislocated subject, introducing a conjoined proposition, shown in (iii).
(iii) And hit at Saynt Nycholas hadde by hys holy prayer, hit was of such
fuson and plente, at hit fond all e pepull to ete and to sowe e erthe
aftyr (a1415-1500 CMMIRK,13.363)
And that which Saint Nicholas received by his holy prayer, [it] was of
such abundance and plenty, that it provided [for] all the people to eat and
to sow the garden [there]after
6. Although it-clefts with intraposed relatives are not attested, we do find exam-
ples with determinative it that can be interpreted as reverse specificational sen-
tences; that is as specificational inversion constructs. For example, in this token
160 The it-cleft and earlier periods of English
Ball (1991: 60) suggests that there may also be interpretive reasons why
the cleft clause never came together with its antecedent, but remained in
fixed clause-final position. Discussing a determinative pronoun analysis of
the OE predicational tokens, she notes that, as in present-day English, the
focal noun is often interpreted as given information, forming part of the
discontinuous referring expression (see Chapter 5, Section 2). For instance,
(6) above, repeated here as (23), describes the vision revealed to the young
man. In contrast, in the non-extraposed version, translated in (24), this that
(or is e) is interpreted more generally as what. Ball (1991: 61) concludes
that the correct interpretation of the predicational cleft depends crucially
on the relative clause coming after the predicate nominal, so that there were
sound interpretive reasons for its staying put.
from Early Modern English, that (the act of unconditional friendship) is speci-
fied as the thing that allows us to benefit mankind, better ourselves and so
make ourselves dearer to God. Such examples show that, at earlier periods of
English, it-clefts (like other subtypes of specificational inversion sentence) had
corresponding non-inverted forms (cf. example (5) in Chapter 4, Section 1.1).
(iv) and indeed that is it that can make the difference; we must be friends to
all (1662 JETAYLORMEAS-E3-P1,14.63)
An obligatorily extraposed relative clause? 161
ance, as shown in (25) and (26). Indeed, Prez-Guerra (1998) explores the
historical relationship between it-clefts and it-extraposition and finds that
they undergo a parallel increase in frequency from the Early Modern period
onwards.7
We can conclude then that while the cleft clauses extraposed position is
no longer consistent with the behaviour of restrictive relative clauses more
generally, this was not always the case. At earlier stages of English, relative
clauses frequently occurred at the margins of the main clause. As the
external structure of relative clauses has undergone change, leading to more
integration between the relative and its antecedent, the it-cleft has remained
the same. Now, the it-clefts extraposed structure is supported largely by a
combination of interpretive, information structural and prosodic factors as
well as via analogy with other extraposition constructions. Therefore, while
the motivation for cleft structure is less direct in the system of present-day
English, the it-cleft can still be shown to conform to larger generalizations.
Furthermore, even though the fixed, discontinuous relationship between
the cleft clause and its pronominal antecedent is now specific to the cleft
schema, the internal structure of the cleft clause is nevertheless inherited
from the restrictive relative clause construction. Again, this is supported by
historical evidence. Undertaking a comparative study of the relative mark-
ers in NP-focus it-clefts and restrictive relative clauses, Ball (1994b) finds
that the cleft clause and other restrictive relatives have undergone parallel
diachronic developments.
Focusing on clauses in which the gap functions as the subject of the
embedded verb, Ball shows that in both it-clefts and restrictive relatives,
that is the preferred complementizer up until the eighteenth century, when
there is a sharp increase in the use of wh-pronouns. However, Ball notes
that while the pronoun which undergoes a rise in the eighteenth century, it
never achieves the same high frequency as who. Ball interprets this data as
On first appearances, the diachronic data does not seem overly helpful.
For instance, it is well known that throughout the it-clefts entire history,
the verb in the cleft clause shows agreement with the focal NP, rather than
with the initial it (see Ball 1991). Consequently, we cannot claim that this
pattern of number agreement has undergone change. However, what has
An unusual pattern of agreement? 163
changed over time is the behaviour of the matrix copula. In what follows, I
show that the history of agreement in the matrix clause in fact provides us
with a way of understanding how present-day agreement works in the cleft
clause.
Throughout Old English and well into Middle English, the matrix verb
agrees in number with the clefted constituent (see Visser 1963: 49 and Ball
1991: 283288). For example, the text in (28) contains two it-clefts. In the
first, the form of the copula is agrees with the singular referent your own
spirit. However, in the second instance, the matrix verb and the postcopular
NP are both marked as plural.
It is not until the early fifteenth century that we begin to see the situation
that we have today, with the matrix copula being marked as singular, even
in cases where the clefted constituent refers to plural entities. Example (29),
which is from a slightly later manuscript of the same text as (28), shows the
more modern pattern. Here, the postcopular NP is plural but the matrix verb
is in the singular form.
So how should we account for the it-clefts early agreement pattern and
what can it tell us about the present-day it-cleft? Once again, the answer
lies in the history of the cleft pronoun it. Throughout Old and Early Middle
English, the pronoun it could sometimes be used with plural reference (see
Mitchell 1985a: 622). For example, in (30), OE hit is used to refer back to
three different events, classed here as signs.
(30) And eac his riste of daee, and his upstige to heofenum, and ealle
a wundra e he worhte, ealle hit wron tacna
And, likewise, his resurrection from death, and his ascension to
heaven, and all the wonders which he wrought all these were
signs (lfric, Catholic Homilies [Thorpe 1844: 146, 147])
164 The it-cleft and earlier periods of English
Similarly, in the EME token in (31), hit is used alongside ha (they) to refer
to a plural referent, the clever and wise words.
From this, it follows that, in (28) above, the plural copula (ben) shows
agreement, not only with the plural postcopular constituent, but also with
the pronoun it. So, in the earlier it-cleft agreement pattern then, number
marking is actually consistent across the whole of the construction.
The historical facts therefore demonstrate that while the verb embedded
in the cleft clause has always been subject to plural marking (in agreement
with the clefted constituent), this was originally in agreement both with the
matrix copula and, most importantly, with its nominal antecedent the
determinative it. For example, in the Old English it-cleft in (32), taken from
the YCOE, the verb in the cleft clause (feallan) carries the plural present
ending -a, and so shows agreement with the plural marking (-an) of the
postcopular masculine noun steorra. However, since the matrix copula sind
is also formally plural, we may assume that the initial hit is also plural,
being used to describe a plural entity.
For the early it-cleft tokens then, number agreement is accounted for easily
on a discontinuous constituent analysis: the cleft clause shows agreement
with its pronominal antecedent, which can be used to refer to or describe
both singular and plural entities. Therefore, the historical it-cleft tokens are
not problematic for this account in the same way as their present-day coun-
terparts.
Thus, we have seen that the earlier number agreement pattern is
consistent with a discontinuous constituent analysis (and in fact with any
analysis) of it-clefts and that the more unusual, present-day pattern is a
development. So how can we account for this change? As we have already
seen, the pronoun it was once maximally underspecified; that is, it could
describe or refer to plural as well as singular individuals and to human as
well as non-human referents (see example (18) above). To an extent, the
specificational it-cleft has retained this historical flexibility, in that the
present-day it-cleft permits both human and plural foci. In these sentences,
An unusual pattern of agreement? 165
(33) Truly, sir, she seyde, I trowe hit be nat ye that hath slayne my
husbonde, for he that dud that dede is sore wounded, and is never
lykly to be hole, that shall I ensure hym.
(a1470 CMMALORY, 202.3233)
it is not you that has slain my husband (Ball 1991: 307)
Visser (1963: 49) discusses a similar example from Early Modern English;
he notes that The form makes in the following passage from Shakespeares
Alls Well (IV, ii, 21) is remarkable. Here, the embedded verb does not
agree with the postcopular plural NP the many oaths. Instead, makes shows
agreement with the referent for which this negative it-cleft holds true (the
plain single vow), even though this is not specified until later in the sen-
tence. Similar examples occur in present-day English, where agreement in
the cleft clause seems to be governed by semantic factors, such as the act of
specification (see Chapter 4, Section 1.3.3).
166 The it-cleft and earlier periods of English
(34) Tis not the many oaths that makes the truth, But the plain single
vow that is vowd true
(Shakespeare, Alls Well That Ends Well [Visser 1963: 49])
(36) We are generally wise enough to begin with them when they are
very young and discipline betimes those other creatures we would
make usefull to us. They are only our ofspring that we neglect in
this point and haveing made them ill children we foolishly expect
they should be good men. (1685 LOCKE-E3-H,51.125)
We thus often use it even where we point to persons, provided the desire is
to identify; but when the desire is to describe, we may say with Shake-
speare It is a good divine that follows his own instructions (Merchant of
Venice, I, II, 15); or more commonly we replace it here by a personal pro-
168 The it-cleft and earlier periods of English
noun that indicates gender and number: He is a good divine who follows
his own instructions.8
(40) but by cause he knewe not his sheld he demed it was not he.
(1485 Malory, Le Morte dArthur (Cx) [Smith 1906: 80])
Discord between the person marking of the verb in the relative clause
and that of its pronominal head, shown in (38), also extends beyond the it-
cleft construction. For example, the verb have in the reverse pseudocleft of
(41) shows agreement with the subject of the matrix clause rather than with
the third person determinative he. As Ball (1999) notes, this agreement
pattern can sometimes penetrate even a relative clause with a noun head,
such as that given in (42).
t was very rare. Indeed, Mitchell (1985b: 101) finds that most of the
apparent examples of relative t showing lack of concordcan be other-
wise explained. Furthermore, OE t could function as the complement of
a pied-piped preposition (as in urh t by which), a characteristic unique
to pronominal relatives (Surez-Gmez 2006: 85). Therefore, the use of
t in the YCOE cleft tokens suggests that the antecedent of the relative
clause is the neuter pronoun hit.
Among them, these 5 YCOE tokens represent both specificational and
predicational varieties of it-cleft and contain both masculine and feminine
postcopular nouns. (43), for instance, is clearly a predicational it-cleft (see
the discussion of example (4) in Section 2). Here, the postcopular noun gast
is masculine and so is at odds with the relative t. As Ball (1991: 39)
notes, Bourcier (1977: 326) discusses this same example and takes hit to be
the antecedent of the relative clause.
Similar examples are shown in (46) and (47). Here again, the postcopular
nouns steorra and lichoma are both masculine, while the cleft clause is
introduced by the neuter pronoun t.
In only one example does the relative pronoun agree in gender with the
clefted constituent but not with the cleft pronoun. In (48), we have two see
relatives. In the first, the relative pronoun is in the nominative case (se e),
while in the second, it is in the accusative case (one e). The masculine
forms se and one are consistent with the postcopular Swithhun, rather than
with the neuter cleft hit.
Unlike the other examples, this token seems to favour an expletive account,
on which the antecedent to the relative clause is the postcopular constituent.
The evidence from Old English gender agreement 173
Higgins class of identificational copular sentences and his use of the term
identificational are not widely accepted.9 Nevertheless, Ball uses this defi-
nition to argue that the Old English non-predicational tokens are actually
identificational rather than specificational it-clefts. That is, she claims that
they do not identify a specific referent; instead, they identify only the name
of an already established individual.
For instance, after examining the context for (45) above, shown in (51),
Ball (1991: 64) explains that there is an otherwise established entity in the
context [the one knocking at the door] which lacks only a name.
However, this cannot be right. Here, the faithful mistake St. Peter, who they
believe to be in prison, for his angel; that is, they (wrongly) identify his
angel as the one who is knocking there. In (51) then, what is at issue is not
the name of the referent (as Peter or his angel) but the referent itself. This
example clearly conforms to our understanding of specificational meaning
as involving the specification (or identification) of the individuals that are
uniquely characterized by the definite description (i.e. the members that
make up the described set).
Likewise, Ball (1991: 64) claims that token (3), repeated here as (52),
occurs in the same kind of identificational context. In this example, Jesus
has healed a lame man. However, the man does not know the identity of the
one who healed him until he encounters Jesus again. Realizing who he is,
the man tells the Jews.
(52) & cyde hit am Iudean. t hit wre se hlend e hyne hlde.
(cowsgosp,Jn_[WSCp]:5.15.6088)
and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
(Ball 1991: 40)
176 The it-cleft and earlier periods of English
For Ball (1991: 66), the central issue is the name of an entity which has
already been at least partially described, and which is salient. However,
the man provides much more information than a simple name or label here
(the Saviour, or literally, the healer). Instead, he refers to an individual,
pointing out Jesus for the benefit of the Jews. Indeed, Ball (1991: 66)
acknowledges that these Old English hit-clefts also allow a specificational
interpretation; she concludes, There is a fine line between identification
and specification.
In conclusion then, there is little justification for characterizing the Old
English cleft data as performing a naming or labelling function, rather than
a specificational one. There is therefore little evidence for suggesting that
the Old English hit-clefts are instances of a structurally distinct construc-
tion. Tellingly, Ball only distinguishes between specification and identi-
fication when discussing the Old and Early Middle English data. For sub-
sequent periods, Ball finds it difficult to implement this distinction and
consequently abandons it. She notes, Specificational and identificational
it-clefts are classed together here because of the difficulty of reliably dis-
tinguishing themWhile the distinct semantics of the predicational cleft
continue to set it apart, the other two types are close both in interpretation
and function (Ball 1991: 220). This suggests that Balls main purpose in
employing this distinction for Old English is to allow her to reconcile the
existence of early tokens involving extraposition-from-NP with an exple-
tive account of specificational it-clefts.
In sum, the Old English gender agreement data provides strong support
for extraposition-from-NP accounts, so much so that it forces proponents of
expletive analyses to discount and explain away this data as evidence of a
different kind of copular construction.10
10. Filppula (2009) is exceptional in that he assumes that it-clefts have an expletive
structure while maintaining that the YCOE contains genuine it-cleft tokens with
a specificational meaning. Tellingly, however, Filppula does not discuss the
gender agreement evidence in any detail, except to note that, for the example
given as (45) and (51) above, Mitchell [1985b: 102] takes hit and not the
focused noun, as in clefts, to be the antecedent of the relative pronoun here and
therefore rejects this as an example of a cleft sentence (Filppula 2009: 277).
The it-cleft as a relic from an earlier time 177
Examining the it-clefts early history therefore provides us both with a new
dataset for analysing cleft structure and with an alternative language system
in which to look for generalizations that help to explain the constructions
(now) idiosyncratic properties. This allows us to address questions which
were left unresolved by a discontinuous constituent analysis of the present-
day facts. For instance, we saw in Section 3 that the it-clefts discontinuous
(it + relative clause) NP is an instance of a once productive pattern in which
determinative pronouns are modified by restrictive relative clauses. In Sec-
tion 4, we saw that the sentence-final position of the relative clause was the
norm in Old English, which suggests that the it-cleft represents a reflex of
the older pattern. Finally, in Section 5, we saw that the cleft pronoun it has
more in common semantically with the Old and Early Middle English lex-
eme it than with the present-day pronoun. With this observation made, we
can better understand the it-clefts unusual pattern of number agreement.
In this way, the it-clefts construction-specific formal properties have
been shown to have their sources in configurations which no longer exist
(or are no longer productive) in present-day English. In other words, these
now idiosyncratic properties were at one time inherited from more general
linguistic patterns, including the determinative pronoun construction, the
paratactic relative clause construction, which displays a loose degree of
integration (Surez-Gmez 2006: 52), and the OE/EME lexeme it. These
early inheritance relations are given in Figure 10 as dashed lines, indicating
that they are representative of an older system of English.
It-cleft schema
Once we add a paratactic relative clause (in accordance with the Old Eng-
lish determinative pronoun construction), we obtain a specificational it-cleft
as in the example in (45), repeated below as (55). Here, the initial hit is
restrictively modified by the extraposed clause and functions as the deter-
minative head of the definite description it (the one) that is knocking there.
Ball (1991: 67) provides a similar account of these OE tokens; she suggests
that the predicational and identificational hit-clefts are simple sentence[s]
expanded by the adjunction of a relative clause.
However, Ball provides a different origin story for the specificational it-
cleft (see Section 2). She suggests that this construction originated in Early
Middle English, with examples such as (56), repeated from (1).
(56) A-bidez, quath is holie man: ore louerd is guod and freo.
e deuel it is at bringuth is wedur
[As St. Edmund was preaching, it became overcast, a terrible wind
began to blow, and it grew dark. People began to leave.] Stay, said
The it-cleft as a relic from an earlier time 181
this holy man, our Lord is good and free. The devil it is that
brings this weather
(1280-90 South English Legendary [Ball 1991: 158])
Ball (1991: 158) claims that this example has a different function from the
OE hit-clefts, since It is not the case that there is a storm-bringing entity in
the context whose identity is at issue. Rather, the devil is contrasted with
God as the value of X in the OP [open proposition] X brings this weather.
More importantly, however, this EME token differs from the OE examples
in that it is actually amenable to an expletive account of the specificational
it-cleft, occurring as it does only after the system of gender agreement has
already broken down (see Section 6).
Searching for a viable source construction, Ball comes across an Old
English NP beon relative clause configuration, exemplified by (57), also
(2). She suggests that such examples acquired expletive subjects in Middle
English; The resulting structure is superficially similar to but structurally
distinct from the OE identificational hit-cleft (Ball 1991: 68).
However, while Ball (1991: 51) translates these examples as it-clefts, she
notes that they are closer in form to reverse pseudoclefts, since the initial,
focal NP is the grammatical subject. Furthermore, Ball acknowledges that
this source construction is very rare in Old English; it occurs in her data
only in translations of Latin headless relatives and is sometimes avoided
even then. For example, (57) is an English translation of the Latin original
est Pater meus, qui glorificat me. She concludes that in Late West
Saxon, at least, NP/PRO BEON REL-CLAUSE was not the preferred construc-
tion for marking focus and open proposition (Ball 1991: 52).
Balls (1991) account of the specificational it-clefts origin is therefore
shaped by her adherence to an expletive analysis. Instead, I suggest that the
historical data calls for a much simpler account, on which the specifica-
tional it-cleft develops in OE, alongside the predicational variety. In pro-
posing two different origin stories for present-day it-clefts, Balls account is
in many ways parallel to Matsunamis (1961: 6) earlier claim that the iden-
tifying and disjunctive functions of it-clefts originally belonged to different
constructions,they were combined in one and the same formula in the
182 The it-cleft and earlier periods of English
11. An example of this is Balls (1991: 156) treatment of the following token. Here,
St. Mary converses with someone who she thinks is the gardener. However, it
is really Jesus, who has risen from his tomb. Ball analyses (vi) as an Early
Middle English identificational it-cleft. She notes that On the specificational
reading, which is brought about by unclefting [shown in (vii)], Mary would
be strangely mistaken about the event taking placeWhereas on the identifica-
tional reading, she is only mistaken about the identity of her interlocutor, not
about what is actually happening (Ball 1991: 156157).
8. Summary
1. A diachronic investigation
For this diachronic investigation, I make use of data from four independent,
yet related, historical English corpora: the York-Toronto-Helsinki Corpus of
Old English Prose (YCOE), the Penn-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Middle
The corpora, the search and the selection process 185
If, however, we acknowledge the evidence that the cleft pronoun is not
in fact expletive, and instead functions as a definite determinative pronoun,
the inclusion of sentences without determinative pronouns as instances of
cleft structure makes little sense. True to form, once we examine the dis-
course contexts of these hit-less tokens, they appear to be instances of an
OE presentational construction rather than a subtype of it-cleft.
A search of the CP-CLF structure in the YCOE yields 94 cleft tokens. The
majority of these examples occur without the pronoun hit. This includes 50
tokens from a single text file, cobede.o2, taken from Bedes Ecclesiastical
History of the English People, such as (1) and (2) below.
(4) Then [it] was after her death that the brethren were more occupied
with other works, and for seven years neglected the erection of the
church (Filppula 2009: 272)
(5) Then it was after thelberhts death that his son Eadbald suc-
ceeded to the throne, (Filppula 2009: 272)
Filppula does not discuss the discourse context or the function of these
examples in any detail. However, he does comment that they do not contain
presupposed that-clauses, despite going on to classify them as informative-
presupposition clefts (see Filppula 2009: 273). This suggests that Filppulas
figure of 89 YCOE clefts is, at least to some extent, overblown. Indeed,
Filppula (2009: 276) acknowledges that, some of the structures parsed as
The corpora, the search and the selection process 189
(6) And I do not speke nowe of the voluntarye mouynges of the soule,
that hath knowledge, but of the natural intencion of thynges, euen
as it is that we do digest meates, that we haue eten without
thynkyng thereon howe it is digested and as we do take wynde and
breathe in slepe, not knowyng thereof.
(1556 BOETHCO-E1-H,80.509)
(7) As our meate we take without great study
(1593 BOETHEL-E2-H,68.223)
(8) Thus we swallow our Meat without thinking of it,
(1695 BOETHPR-E3-H,145.236)
Likewise, examples containing the question word how, such as (9), often
favour an impersonal reading. These tokens seem to question how it is even
possible that the situation denoted by the that-clause has come about, rather
than asking in what manner it took place (see also Ball 1991: 104).
(9) Then saith the woman of Samaria vnto him, How is it that thou,
being a Iewe, askest drinke of me, which am a woman of Sama-
ria? For the Iewes haue no dealings with the Samaritanes.
(1611 AUTHNEW-E2-H,IV,1J.361)
Even in the Late Modern English period, we find similar examples con-
taining the fixed phrases hence it is and therefore it is. As shown in (10)
and (11), the adverbs hence and therefore make unlikely cleft foci; there is
certainly no element of contrast here. Instead, these introductory phrases
serve a presentational function, which can be paraphrased as and so it hap-
pens or and so it is the case.
190 The it-clefts development over time
(10) Hence it is, that the will, induced by powerful reasons, sometimes
chuses and embraces death, altho' nature dreads and abhors it;
(BOETHRI-1785,123.244)
(11) and therefore it is that we have inserted some passages verbatim
from his work, Neuralgia and its Counterfeits
(POORE-1876,163.56)
While these tokens are superficially similar to clefts, they are pragmatically
distinct. Existential sentences question rather than presuppose the existence
of the entity described in the that-clause (Ball 1991: 269). For this reason, I
have excluded these tokens from my data-set.
I have also eliminated 11 tokens of the type whase itt iss attfrom the
PPCME2 data. This construction, found in The Ormulum (cmorm.po.m1),
also seems to prefer an existential reading. For example, the first sentence
of (13) serves to establish a generic, indefinite entity whoever there is that
loves peace, which is then predicated of in the following sentence, shall
find Jesus.
(13) & whase itt iss att lufe gri & follhe wi hiss herrte, att
mann shall findenn Jesu Crist To beon wi himm i blisse.
(c1200 CMORM,I,227.1888)
The corpora, the search and the selection process 191
And whoever it is that loves peace And follows with his heart That
man shall find Jesus Christ To be with him in bliss.
(= Whoever loves peace...shall find Jesus Christ...)
(Ball 1991: 185)
11 tokens introduced by the pattern I it am have also been omitted from the
PPCME2 search results. Ten of these, shown below, are from a single pas-
sage of the same text: Julian of Norwichs Revelations of Divine Love.
(14) ofte tymes oure lorde Ihesu sayde to me, I it am that is hiaste. I
it am that ou luffes. I it am that thowe lykes. I it am that owe
serves. I it am at ou langes. I it am that owe desyres. I it am
that thowe menes. I it am at is alle. I it am that haly kyrke preches
the and teches the. I it am that schewed me are to the.
often times our lord Jesus said to me, I am the one that is the
highest. I am the one that you love. I am the one that you like. I am
the one that you serve. I am the one that you long [for]. I am the
one that you desire. I am the one to whom your intention is
directed. I am the one that is all. I am the one that holy church
preaches to you and teaches you. I am the one that showed myself
to you before. (c1400-50 CMJULNOR,59.256-265)
Although these tokens look like focus-first specificational it-clefts, they are
actually predicational. The function of these sentences is to tell us more
information about the subject (Jesus), rather than to identify the referent
described by the discontinuous definite NP. Here, the pronoun I is the
thematic subject, which shows agreement with the copular verb am. The
postcopular relative modifies the determinative it to form a predicative NP.
192 The it-clefts development over time
The search for CP-CLF in the historical English parsed corpora produces
several other structures which are easily mistaken for it-clefts. For example,
although (15) below is annotated as a cleft by the YCOE (and is treated as
such by Filppula (2009: 274)), it is most likely a simple NP be NP specifi-
cational copular sentence followed by a nonrestrictive relative.
(15) ...and t hus afylde mid ormtum stence, t man eae mihte
witan t hit se deofol ws e hine dwelian wolde;
(coaelive,LS_[Martin]:770.6456)
...and that house filled with intense odour so that one could easily
know that it was the devil who wanted to mislead him;...
(Filppula 2009: 274)
In this example, the devil pretends to be Christ. What is at issue here, then,
is the identity of this vision, as either Christ or the devil. If the vision is
truly Christ, then no deception can be said to have occurred. Therefore, the
information in the relative clause x wanted to mislead him cannot be pre-
supposed. Instead, it provides additional information about the devil, ex-
plaining his purpose for appearing as Christ.
Likewise, I do not consider (16) to be an it-cleft, despite its mark-up in
the YCOE. Here, the relative clause is properly restrictive, but it modifies
the postcopular noun Veronica rather than the initial it. In this example,
Veronica is treated as a common noun, representing the type people named
Veronica. The initial hit is used with human reference.
A similar example is found in the output for the PPCMBE. In (17), the zero
relative modifies the noun time to form a postcopular NP (the first time I
have been quoted as an authority by an eminent outsider). The initial it is a
full anaphoric pronoun referring to the situation depicted in the previous
sentence.
(17) I believe to-day there was in the Times what I may call the first
personal thorough recognition of my working life from an
educational quarterIt is the first time I have been quoted as an
authority by an eminent outsider, (THRING-187X,216.28)
(18) That poor child Carinthia Jane, when first she beheld Old
England's shores, tossing in the packet-boat on a wild Channel sea,
did say it and think it, for it is in the family that she did; and no
wonder that she should (MEREDITH-1895,19,132.8-9)
3. Frequency information
Table 1. The frequency of it-clefts throughout Old, Middle and Modern English
Specificational Predicational Total
OE (1150) 7 (2.4) 6 (2.1) 13 (4.5)
ME 1 (11501250) 3 (5.8) 2 (3.9) 5 (9.7)
ME II (12501350) 3 (10.2) 1 (3.4) 4 (13.6)
ME III (13501420) 12 (12.3) 3 (3.1) 15 (15.4)
ME IV (14201500) 17 (32.0) 1 (1.9) 18 (34.0)
E I (15001569) 26 (22.6) 1 (0.9) 27 (23.4)
E II (15701639) 40 (30.6) 1 (0.8) 41 (31.4)
E III (16401710) 103 (91.1) 1 (0.9) 104 (92.0)
MBE I (17001769) 82 (137.2) 1 (1.7) 83 (138.9)
MBE II (17701839) 105 (142.4) 1 (1.4) 106 (143.7)
MBE III (18401914) 95 (168.8) 3 (5.3) 98 (174.2)
1. The PPCME2 is divided into subcorpora indicating both composition date and
manuscript date. Here, I conflate these subcorpora to indicate only the time of
composition (where known).
2. Nevertheless, as a consequence of reexamining the data, the frequencies given
here are slightly higher than those given in Patten (2010) for Late Middle and
Early Modern English.
Frequency information 195
lie in the high frequency of it-clefts in two Late Middle English texts: The
Book of Margery Kempe and Malorys Morte Darthur. 11 of the 18 it-clefts
in MEIV appear in these two text-files (cmkempe.m4 and cmmalory.m4),
which contain several instances of hidden or mistaken identity. In (19), for
example, a woman is berated for not believing that the one who spoke to
her was truly God. Likewise, in (20), King Arthur fails to identify Merlin
(who is in disguise) as the man currently speaking to him.
(19) & is chastisyng schal enduryn xij days tyl u wyl beleuyn at it is
God whech spekyth to e & no deuyl.
(c1450 CMKEMPE,146.3375)
and this chastising shall endure twelve days until you will believe
that it is God who speaks to you and no devil.
(20) And Merlion was so disgysed that kynge Arthure knewe hym nat
Sir, seyde thes two knyghtes, 'hit ys Merlion that so spekith unto
you. (a1470 CMMALORY,30.952)
In any case, Table 1 suggests that the it-cleft has steadily become a more
established construction over time, occurring just under 40 times more fre-
quently in the late nineteenth century data than in Old English. What is
more, the figures clearly show that this increase is limited to the specifica-
tional variant of this construction. While the predicational it-cleft is present
throughout all periods of English, it maintains a relatively low frequency.
In Old English, the specificational it-cleft and the predicational it-cleft have
roughly the same rate of occurrence. In MEI, the frequency of the predi-
cational it-cleft is 2/3 the size of that of the specificational it-cleft, which
drops to 1/3 at MEII and again to 1/4 MEIII. However, from the end of the
Late Middle English period onwards, the two constructions take different
paths and their frequencies are no longer comparable.
Interestingly, the predicational it-cleft is attested slightly earlier than the
specificational it-cleft. While all 7 of the OE specificational examples occur
in the first half of the eleventh century, 3 of the predicational tokens are
dated from around the middle of the tenth century. Balls (1991: 53) obser-
vation about predicational it-clefts therefore applies equally to this data; she
notes that they now appear as exceptions to generalizations about the cleft,
but they represent the earliest attested English cleft construction with neuter
pronoun subject. The question therefore presents itself: why is this variety
now exceptional in relation to the specificational it-cleft? In other words,
196 The it-clefts development over time
what accounts for the divergence in the development of these two related
constructions?
The predicational it-cleft seems to have changed little since Old English.
For instance, the OE predicational it-cleft in (21) has the same structure and
function as the nineteenth century token in (22).
If, on the other hand, we treat the postcopular prepositional phrase through
him as an optional adjunct, as in (26), the resulting reading is less plausible.
Here, as in (24), the relevant relation of agency is left unexpressed. This
fundamentally alters the meaning of the sentence.
(26) thinking that it happens that their desire leads them to shameful
actions
The evidence from the early English corpora therefore suggests that it-
clefts could occur with prepositional foci as early as Early Middle English.
Indeed, it could be argued that the PP-focus it-cleft was actually available
in Old English. The YCOE data does not contain any clear-cut examples of
Changes to the clefted constituent 199
Nevertheless, there are two genuinely borderline tokens in the YCOE, both
of which contain temporal adverbial phrases in postverbal position, ex-
pressing the duration of an event. On the one hand, these look like other
impersonals with measure of time adjuncts. On this basis, Ball (1991:
101) groups (28) with the OE impersonal from Bede in (29). On an imper-
sonal reading then, (28) translates as Now, for 38 years, my daughter has
been lost to me. However, the example is also amenable to an it-cleft
analysis, on which the speaker Paphnutius specifies (and emphasizes) the
exact number of years that his daughter has been missing. This interpreta-
tion is not at odds with the discourse context and is the one opted for by
Filppula (2009: 273).
(28) Nu hit is for eahta and ryttian gearan t min dohtor me losode
(coeuphr,LS_7_[Euphr]:270.283)
Now it is for eight and thirty years that my daughter hath been lost
to me (Skeat 1881a: 351)
(29) a ws twa gear t he t bsicopsetl swa st 7 heold.
(cobede,Bede_4:30.370.13.3702)
Then for two years he thus occupied and held the bishops seat
(Miller 1898: 371)
Here, I have chosen to exclude these tokens from the diachronic data-set
of it-clefts. As shown below, tokens with postcopular temporal expressions,
and which are clearly it-clefts rather than impersonals, do not appear in the
corpus until much later in the history of English. Therefore, a cleft analysis
for these borderline YCOE tokens is perhaps unmotivated (see also Ball
1991: 111). Nevertheless, the relatively early attestation of PP-focus it-
clefts in Early Middle English still raises the question of whether the it-cleft
construction ever actually had a syntactic constraint specifying for NP foci.
Although the diachronic data shows that the it-cleft occurs with a wider
200 The it-clefts development over time
range, and a greater number, of non-NP focal elements over time (see Table
2), the evidence suggests that this structural change is actually governed by
semantic conditions (see also Patten 2010).
Data from the YCOE and the PPCME2 suggests that, originally, the it-
cleft showed a preference for focusing NPs referring to the most discrete of
entities. In Old and Early Middle English, 10 out of 12 NP-focus it-clefts
(over 80%) contain proper name and pronominal foci which denote animate
individuals. Likewise, in Late Middle English, 22 out of 28 it-clefts with
NP foci refer to animate entities (almost 80%).3 This figure drops to under
50% in the PPCEME, with 64 animate NP foci in 136 relevant tokens (of
which 3 are indefinite NPs). In the PPCMBE, less than 40% of the 151 NP-
focus it-clefts contain animate foci and only 52 of these 58 tokens have
definite, specific reference (under 35% of it-clefts with NP foci).
Abstract nouns, which do not denote discrete physical objects, occur as
it-cleft foci only from the Late Middle English period onwards. In LME,
they make up less than 15% of the NP-focus it-clefts (4 tokens out of 28).
This figure increases to over 20% in Early Modern English, with 29 out of
136 instances having abstract nouns in the focus position, and again to over
30% in Late Modern English, involving 48 out of the 151 it-clefts with NP
foci. As abstract nouns come to be used more frequently as it-cleft foci, we
find a strong tendency for them to occur in lists or accompanied by focus-
ing adverbs. As we saw in Chapter 5, Section 3, such strategies are em-
ployed in present-day English as a way of individualizing characteristically
non-referring it-cleft foci, such as adjective phrases and manner adverbs, in
order to make them more acceptable (see also . Kiss 1998; Borkin 1984).
In Early Modern English, 27 out of the 29 examples containing post-
copular abstract nouns (93%) occur with listed alternatives (19 tokens)
and/or with focusing adverbs (10 tokens). For example, in (30), the abstract
noun shame is presented as a discrete and distinct emotion, which stands in
contrast to pain as the most valuable basis for a childs punishment. Simi-
larly, proud knowledge is defined and delimited through a contrast with
pure knowledge in (31). This example is especially interesting because here
contrastive listing also leads to a subtle reformulation of the cleft clause.
Although both clauses provide the same discourse-old information, the
former presents it in a much more neutral manner. I discuss this issue fur-
ther in Section 5.
3. Ball (1991: 272) finds this same preference in her Late Middle English data.
She notes that 89 out of 111 NP-focus it-clefts (80%) contain animate foci.
Changes to the clefted constituent 201
(30) for tis shame of the fault and the disgrace that attends it that they
should stand in feare of, rather then paine, if you would have them
a temper truely ingenuous. (1685 LOCKE-E3-H,57.206)
(31) that it was not the pure knowledg of nature and vniuersality
which gave the occasion to the fall; but it was the proude know-
ledge of good and euillwhich was the fourme of the temptation;
(1605 BACON-E2-P1,1,4R.26)
(32) Tis use alone hardens it and makes it more able to endure the cold
(1685 LOCKE-E3-P1,34.34)
(33) Tis opportunity, tis a lone-hour only, that can make me happy.
(1688 BEHN-E3-P1,167.206)
In addition to focusing more abstract entities over time, the it-cleft also
occurs with a greater number of relational foci. Table 3 shows an increase
in the number and variety of it-cleft foci expressing the relations of time,
place, means, reason and manner.
202 The it-clefts development over time
As we can see, it-clefts with relational foci become much more frequent in
the second half of the Early Modern period. This corresponds to a general
increase in both the number of specificational it-clefts and the number of it-
clefts with non-NP foci at this time (see Table 2). Before this point, the few
it-clefts with adverbial foci are limited to expressing means or reason. For
example, the Middle English PP-focus it-cleft in (35), repeated from (23)
above, expresses a causal relationship. As noted in Patten (2010: 230), this
same relation can also be expressed by it-clefts with NP foci in Middle
English, such as (36). Here, the focal NP corresponds to the subject of the
cleft clause, rather than to an adjunct.
(37) It was in 78; but I am not certain of the Day of the Month: It was
on a Saturday he came (1685 OATES-E3-P2,4.87.257)
(38) It was, as near as I can remember, the 3d of August, that he went
out of Town (1685 OATES-E3-H,4,73.C1.42)
Manner adverbials first appear as it-cleft foci during the late seventeenth
century. These tokens are especially interesting, since, unlike references to
time and place, manner expressions do not have conventional boundaries. It
is perhaps unsurprising then that over 60% of the 21 tokens from EIII to
MBEII occur either with focusing adverbs, shown in (39), or intensifying
modification used to turn a gradable expression into a well-defined
superlative, as in (40).
(39) In a Word, twas in this flattering Light only, though not perhaps
so thoroughly considerd, I lookd upon the Life of an Actor when
but eighteen Years of Age (CIBBER-1740,53.226)
(40) They were so strict with us, as to landing any Goods, that it was
with extream Difficulty that I got on Shore three Bales of English
Goods (DEFOE-1719,197.88)
(41) It is not wantonly, nor altogether willfully, that man has so often
lost his God. (TALBOT-1901,95.93)
(43) Lady C. So sir, it is to you that I am indebted for all the confusion
that has taken place in my house this afternoon. To Frank.
(COLLIER-1835,20.700)
4. However, Ball (1991: 107) suggests that this may actually be a Late Middle
English development.
Changes to the cleft clause 205
In the Middle English corpus, however, we find two examples where the
information in the cleft clause is not given by the previous discourse, but is
nonetheless shared knowledge, including (45).
In this example, the proposition that someone leant against Christs chest
has not been mentioned previously. Nevertheless, the immediate discourse
context is about the part of the Bible that this event is from. The purpose
of this extract is to remind us of this scene (and so assumes that we know
it), even though this particular event is not present in the previous dis-
course (Patten 2010: 236). In this MEII token, then, the information in the
cleft clause is shared, but non-salient.
It is not until Late Middle English that we begin to find examples which
can properly be called informative-presupposition it-clefts. There are three
such tokens in the PPCME2, one at MEIII and two at MEIV. For instance,
the relative clause in (46) contains discourse-new information which is not
necessarily shared knowledge. However, the token is still presuppositional,
and so gives the impression of expressing a fact known to a third party. It is
therefore unsurprising that this example, along with the two other instances
from LME, belongs to the genre history.
206 The it-clefts development over time
The IP it-cleft continues into the Early Modern period, with three instances
at both EI and EII. For example, (47) provides a discourse-new description
of Christ in the cleft clause. Here, the author presents this information as a
previously established fact by referring to the third-party source, St. Paul.
(47) he is truthe and lyfe, he is alone our onlye medyator and advocate,
sytynge at the ryghte hande of hys Father. Yt ys he, as S. Powle
saythe, that ys our onlye redempsion, salvasyon, justyffycasyon,
and reconsylyation. (c1555 MOWNTAYNE-E1-P1,190.273)
Towards the end of the Early Modern period, at EIII, the frequency of
IP it-clefts increases to 8 instances. In addition to the usual tokens, where
the cleft clause expresses information which we take to be certifiable fact,
as in (48), we also find example (49), which has a performative function.
(48) I now see it was not without cause, that our good Queen Elizabeth
did so often wish her self a Milkmaid all the month of May, because
they are not troubled with fears and cares, but sing sweetly all the
day, and sleep securely all the night
(1676 WALTON-E3-P1, 234.278)
(49) Aman. Pray be so just then to me, to believe, tis with a World of
Innocency I woud enquire, Whether you think those Women we
call Women of Reputation, do really scape all other Men, as they
do those Shadows of em, the Beaux. (1696 VANBR-E3-P1,43.108)
In this token, Amanda asks a question (and so performs a speech act) in the
cleft clause. However, by choosing a cleft formulation, she backgrounds the
question and its delicate subject matter while emphasizing her own position
of innocence. This concern to distance herself from the speech act is further
evidenced by the use of the modal woud. The example represents the first
performative it-cleft in the diachronic corpus, a subtype which will be dis-
cussed in more detail in Chapter 8. The development of the performative it-
cleft results from changes both to the cleft clause and the clefted con-
stituent, since such sentences focus on the manner in which the discourse-
Changes to the cleft clause 207
5. There are a number of tokens in the PPCMBE which have the appearance of IP
it-clefts, but which actually contain highly non-salient, discourse-old informa-
tion. For example, we can see that in (i), the narrators separation from his
father as he heads to university represents discourse-old information. However,
prior mention occurs on a previous page, before a long interval in which the
narrator recounts his early relationship with his father. By the time we get to the
208 The it-clefts development over time
(51) 7. The greatest Part of the Writers on this Subject, having been of
the Opinion, That the Sovereign was a Male, and that it is by
Virtue of this King, that the Working-Bees, who are Females, are
impregnate; (MAXWELL-1747,11.32)
it-cleft, this episode in the narrators life is non-salient. However, the token
functions very much like an IP it-cleft, in that it (re)introduces a new chapter in
the narrators life and signals the start of a new segment in the narrative. Delin
(1992: 292) is therefore correct that, in many cases at least, the information
within an it-cleft presupposition appears to remind rather than inform.
(i) In setting out for the university, I was to part with my father and
preceptorand it was not without many tears shed on both sides that we
parted, when I mounted the chaise in which I set out for Oxford.
(GODWIN-1805,66.208)
Changes to the cleft clause 209
(53) Although the introduction of the beautiful Japanese plants that now
contribute to the charm of British gardens belongs to the distant
past, it was not until some fifty years ago that commercial culti-
vators gave serious attention to the Japanese flora, with a view to
obtain some other of its members for the further enrichment of our
gardens. (WEATHERS-1913,1,13.288)
There are also three further tokens of the early performative it-cleft in
the PPCMBE, including (54). In this example, Wetherell uses an it-cleft to
mitigate the face-threatening act of questioning the accuracy of the Lords
note. The construction highlights Wetherells deference to this high-status
individual and downplays the accusation that information is being withheld.
Performative it-clefts therefore function as a politeness strategy, enabling
the speaker to distance themselves from their act (marked as presupposed
or not at issue) by focusing on their emotional response, either to the act
itself or to the addressee.
(55) The fair sex are the farmers of the island; they condescend, or
submit, to dig the land, sow, harrow, and reap, and even patiently
thresh, and with handmills grind what their industry has obtained:
but it seems not to be brutality of disposition, but the imperious
necessities of situation, which impose such revolting toil upon the
weaker sex. (TURNER1-1799,32.83)
However, towards the end of the nineteenth century, we come across yet
another new development. At this point, we find IP it-clefts which present a
statement of opinion in the cleft clause, rather than a statement of fact. For
example, in this it-cleft from Oscar Wildes An Ideal Husband, the infor-
mation in the cleft clause is discourse-new. It is therefore not an example
involving the adaptation or manipulation of a discourse-old presupposition.
Nevertheless, this IP it-cleft is not based on factual information; the claim
that marriage is a hopeless, one-sided institution is the opinion of the
speaker.
(56) Well, I will make her stand by her husband. That is the only thing
for her to do. That is the only thing for any woman to do. It is the
growth of the moral sense in women that makes marriage such a
hopeless, one-sided institution. (WILDE-1895,75.992)
6. Summary
From this diachronic corpus investigation, we have seen that while the it-
clefts basic structure may have remained unaltered since Old English, the
construction has nevertheless undergone substantial changes in its function
and usage. In particular, the specificational it-cleft (unlike the predicational
it-cleft) undergoes a gradual and continual increase in frequency over time.
This is accompanied by changes to both the clefted constituent and the cleft
clause. As shown in Section 4, the it-cleft occurs with an increasingly wide
range of foci, which denote a more diverse array of semantic concepts. The
it-cleft originally showed a preference for focusing the most discrete of
entities, such as proper names and pronouns denoting animate individuals.
Over time, however, the construction begins to co-occur with less discrete
entities, such as abstract nouns (from Late Middle English onwards), before
taking a greater number and variety of relational and situational foci, which
express concepts such as time, place and manner (towards the end of Early
Modern English). This development has had consequences for the category
of it-cleft foci, initiating an increase in the number and variety of phrasal
categories that can enter into the focal slot.
Likewise, we saw in Section 5 that the it-cleft changes from expressing
only given information, to expressing shared but non-salient information,
before the inclusion of information which is factual or assumed to be fac-
tual in some sense. This development marks the introduction of the IP it-
cleft in Late Middle English. However, the data suggests that the change
continues further, as nonfactual opinion is slowly accommodated into the
cleft clause. For instance, towards the end of Early Modern English, crea-
tive uses appear in which elements of speaker opinion are integrated into an
otherwise discourse-old presupposition. This is followed, at the end of the
Modern English period, by examples where the entire cleft clause is com-
prised of opinion presented as fact.
This diachronic perspective therefore shows that the it-cleft has acquired
some of its more idiosyncratic properties over time, as a result of language
change. As was shown in Chapter 5, the present-day it-cleft can occur with
certain foci not found in related constructions and has a greater capacity for
expressing new information in the relative clause. These properties can now
be explained as the outcome of the it-clefts construction-specific historical
development. Nevertheless, two questions remain: how do we account for
these changes and why has only the it-cleft construction developed in this
particular way?
Chapter 8
The it-cleft and constructional change
1. This is not to say that frequency is the only reason for the entrenchment of the
it-cleft construction. In Chapter 6, Section 7, I suggested that analogy and pat-
tern-alignment may also have played an important part.
A grammatical constructionalization account 213
over time, semantic classes and syntactic categories which are less suited to
the referring function are accommodated into the referential slot.
This account is supported by the presence of coercion effects. Michaelis
(2003) observes that when there is a mismatch between the constructions
conventional meaning and that associated with any superimposed item, we
find an enriched interpretation, as the item conforms to the requirements of
the construction; she refers to this as coercion (see Chapter 2). For instance,
the it-cleft imposes referential characteristics onto non-nominal elements as
they are accommodated into the focal slot. As Bolinger (1972) observes,
prepositional phrases lose their relational properties when they occur as it-
cleft foci. Therefore, the meaning of (1) is not that the time is located in the
winter, but that the time is/equals in the winter. Such examples therefore
have little difference in meaning from those with NP-foci denoting discrete
periods of time, as in (2).
(1) If it bee in the winter that your Hawke batheth, when no sunne
shineth, you may then drie her as well by the gentle aire of the fire
as otherwise. (1615 MARKHAM-E2-P1,1,90.37)
If it is in the winter that your hawk bathes, when no sun shines,
you may then dry her as well by the gentle air of the fire as
otherwise
(2) and if this be done in November, it will preserve the Trees for that
whole year, with that once doing, it being the winter time only that
they will feed upon the bark. (1696 LANGF-E3-H,116.193)
Specificational it-cleft
Figure 11. The emergence of the IP it-cleft and the subsequent schematization of
the specificational it-cleft construction
The more abstract it-cleft schema stipulates only those characteristics that
are shared by all of its members. The upshot is that particular requirements
regarding the discourse status, saliency, or familiarity of the information
that is accepted into the cleft clause are now almost non-existent. As Borkin
(1984: 125) notes for present-day it-clefts, Presupposed, when used with
respect to cleft sentences, then, means non-asserted or assumed to be
true, and no more than that.2
Nevertheless, the changes to the cleft clause are best characterized as a
process of pragmatic enrichment; over time, the it-cleft has developed new
uses, which are in addition to its original specifying function. For instance,
the it-cleft can be used to remind the hearer or reader of relevant but non-
salient information, to inform them of facts they may not already know and,
most recently, as an indirect way of communicating the speakers opinion.
In this way, the historical development of the it-cleft involves a change in
2. Lehmann (2008: 3.1.2) observes that, To the extent that pragmatic accommo-
dation of the proposition presupposed by the extrafocal clause is conventiona-
lized in the cleft sentence, the construction becomes more grammaticalized.
For Lehmann, the outcome of grammaticalization here is the levelling out of
the contrast between the presupposition (in the cleft clause) and the assertion
(in the postcopular, focal position). However, it should be noted that it-clefts
are inherently presuppositional, since they contain discontinuous definite NPs.
While this property may be manipulated, with the result that new information is
marked as presupposed, it is not in any way reduced or lessened over time.
A grammatical constructionalization account 217
perspective from what the hearer or reader knows to how the speaker feels.
As Traugott (1982, 1989) observes, grammaticalization often involves a
shift towards increasingly subjective meanings; that is, the grammaticalized
word or string of words comes to express the speakers beliefs or attitudes.
The change to the range of it-cleft foci might also be viewed as a move
towards subjectification, as it involves a gradual progression from focusing
discrete concrete entities to more abstract and interpretative qualities.
These parallel developments are instrumental in the emergence of the
performative it-cleft at the very end of the Early Modern period (shown in
Chapter 7, Section 5). In these tokens, the speaker performs a speech act in
the cleft clause and specifies the manner in which this act is performed in
the postcopular, focal position. In doing so, the speech act is backgrounded,
or taken for granted, while the speakers emotional response to it, or to the
hearer, is highlighted. In the early examples, the performance of the speech
act threatens to characterize the speaker in a negative way (as improper,
impolite or self-important). In contrast, the focused phrase shows what the
speaker wants to convey about themselves, their attitudes and their beliefs.
The performative it-cleft is therefore a highly subjective, speaker-oriented
construction. As shown in Figure 12, the performative tokens form a sub-
type of IP it-cleft.
It-cleft schema
Specificational it-cleft
In sum, it seems that while the it-clefts basic structure has remained the
same since Old English, the specificational it-cleft has undergone a process
of gradual expansion. In accordance with Himmelmanns (2004) definition
of grammaticalization, the diachronic development of the it-cleft involves
both host-class expansion, whereby the construction allows a wider range
of components to enter into it, and semantic-pragmatic context expansion,
through which the construction develops new pragmatic functions (see also
Patten 2010).3 The history of the it-cleft construction is therefore in some
ways contradictory, in that it is both resistant to change and susceptible to
grammaticalization (i.e. grammatical constructionalization). Nevertheless,
on a usage-based model, both aspects of the it-clefts development are
understood in the same way, as involving a process of conventionalization;
that is, the entrenchment of schemas. Both fossilization and schematization
conspire together to make the it-cleft a more idiosyncratic construction: the
specificational it-cleft resists the wider changes affecting the grammatical
system while pursuing its own construction-specific development.
In her (1994a) paper, Ball claims that the Old English impersonal construc-
tion, introduced in Chapter 7, Section 2.1, plays a central role in the devel-
opment of it-clefts with non-NP foci and it-clefts with new information in
the cleft clause. On her account, the it-impersonals underwent a partial
merger with the specificational it-cleft in Late Middle English, resulting in
a new and separate construction: the AdvP/PP-focus IP it-cleft. According
to Ball (1994a), these tokens differ from the original NP-focus it-clefts in
that they contain sentential complements, rather than relative clauses,
which express propositions that are new to the discourse. The AdvP/PP-
focus IP it-cleft construction then merges with the existing NP-focus it-cleft
to form another new sentence type: the NP-focus IP it-cleft.
Balls explanation of how the it-cleft acquired prepositional and adverb
phrase foci is not unreasonable, since we have seen that the impersonal
construction shows a strong superficial similarity to the it-cleft (see Chapter
7, Section 2.1). However, there are several aspects of the diachronic corpus
data that cannot be accounted for on this analysis. For one thing, there is no
evidence to suggest that it-clefts with PP and AdvP foci form a sentence-
type distinct from the NP-focus it-cleft. As we saw in Chapter 7, Section 4,
the first PP-focus it-cleft in the PPCME2 appears some time before the Late
Middle English period (and even before what Ball (1991: 158) claims is the
first specificational NP-focus hit-cleft in her corpus). In contrast, it-clefts
with AdvP foci appear much later in the constructions development; clear
examples are only found towards the end of the Early Modern era (see also
Patten 2010: 231).
Instead, what seems to unite these two varieties for Ball (1994a: 605) is
that, as it-clefts with non-nominal focal elements, they are less amenable to
a relative clause analysis; in these tokens, the cleft clause typically ex-
presses a complete sentence (without a perceptible gap) and is rarely intro-
duced by elements other than that. Ball concludes that they therefore have a
different syntactic structure from NP-focus it-clefts, and contain a sen-
tential complement rather than a restrictive relative clause. However, in
Chapter 5, Section 3, I showed that it-clefts with non-nominal foci do not
warrant a separate analysis from those containing postcopular NPs; once
we assume an extraposition-from-NP analysis of it-clefts, on which the
antecedent of the relative clause is the initial it rather than the clefted con-
stituent, the syntactic category of the postcopular XP is immaterial. On this
account, we do not need to look to the impersonals to provide an indepen-
dent source for a distinct AdvP/PP-focus it-cleft, which explains how it has
220 The it-cleft and constructional change
and the cleft clause is unable to account for the full extent of the it-clefts
gradual and continual development.4
Other authors have suggested that the it-cleft has developed in response to a
loss of alternative word order arrangements in English. As Jespersen (1937:
86) notes, this construction may be considered one of the means by which
the disadvantages of having a comparatively rigid grammatical word-order
(SVO) can be obviated. In support of this, the typological evidence shows
that cleft constructions seem to be favoured in languages with a rigid word
order, such as French, English and the Celtic languages (see Filppula 2009:
281282).
An example of this approach is the recent work of Los (2009) and Los
and Komen (forthcoming), which examines the hypothesis that the devel-
opment of the English it-cleft was shaped by the loss of verb-second (V2).
The V2 construction allowed a variety of constituents (not only subjects) to
occur before a finite verb in second position. This meant the loss of a multi-
functional first position which was associated with unmarked topics but
could also contain focused material. Los (2009) and Los and Komen (forth-
coming) explore the rise of English it-clefting as a resolution strategy as
Some alternative explanations 223
(7) #With great pleasure, we can inform you that your application was
successful
(8) It is with great pleasure that we can inform you that your applica-
tion was successful (examples from Los 2009: 114)
Los (2009: 114) claims that the it-cleft in (8) functions to place with great
pleasure in end-focus position to make it less marked (italic original). Of
course, this argument is to some extent paradoxical, since the it-cleft is a
focusing construction and is not by any means a neutral way of presenting
information. While Los (2009: 114) recognizes this, she finds that nothing
else appears to explain the awkwardness of the more literal translation.
Los and Komen (forthcoming) take a different approach, which explores
the secondary role of the first position in V2 as a host to focused material.
They suggest that the loss of V2 has meant that focus-marking of first pos-
ition adverbials is restricted in present-day English; the it-cleft develops as
a resolution strategy, placing focused material in a position that conforms
to the rigid SV word order while maintaining the relative ordering of const-
ituents. They consider the following examples which differ in acceptability.
that it does not require the presence of the focus marker precisely to mark
the adverbial clause as focal.
In support of this hypothesis, Los and Komen (forthcoming) find that
the relative frequency of it-clefts with focusing adverbs increases between
Old English and Early Modern English, before undergoing a decrease in
Late Modern English. They account for this trend by noting that Old Eng-
lish has the alternative strategy of placing focus markers in first position;
the recent decline in it-clefts with focusing adverbs is attributed to the
survival of V2 reflexes in present-day English. However, the diachronic
development of it-clefts with focusing adverbs acquires a different expla-
nation on my account. In Chapter 7, Section 4, I suggested that focusing
adverbs are used to coerce abstract nouns and relational items into the
referential position as these foci begin to occur more frequently in Early
Modern English. During the Modern English period, the relative frequency
of it-clefts containing abstract nouns and relative elements in the focal posi-
tion increases, but these are less associated with focusing adverbs. This
suggests that their use has become conventionalized.
This exploratory research into the impact of the loss of V2 on English it-
clefting is very interesting and I am sympathetic to the view that word order
considerations are a significant factor influencing the early development of
the it-cleft construction. However, a potential difficulty with this approach
is that it prioritizes the role of it-clefts as an information-packaging device.
On the assumption that the it-cleft is a fully-fledged specificational copular
construction, containing a discontinuous definite noun phrase with existen-
tial presuppositions and a postcopular focal referring expression, there are
more factors than word order considerations involved in the differing
acceptability and use of (7) and (8), and (9) and (10). Certainly, word order
changes are unlikely to be the only factor influencing the it-clefts devel-
opment. Ball (1991: 518) suggests that rigidity of word order cannot ac-
count for the continual increase in it-clefting after LME, since at this time,
alternatives involving movement have long since disappeared. Likewise,
Los and Komens (forthcoming) analysis does not explain why it-clefts
become more frequent in Late Modern English, despite the decrease in it-
clefts with focusing adverbs.
Despite their close familial relationship, it-clefts and wh-clefts occur with a
different range of foci. For example, we saw in Chapter 5, Section 3, that
certain prepositional phrases can occur as the focus of an it-cleft which are
not permitted in the wh-cleft configuration, see examples (11) and (12).
Furthermore, adjective phrases also make for more acceptable wh-cleft foci,
as demonstrated by the differing acceptability of (17) and (18). As we have
seen, APs can only be accommodated into the focal position of an it-cleft
under specific circumstances, such as listing, shown in (19).
this example then, the cleft it is interpreted as having a much more specific
meaning than the thing, gaining its semantic interpretation from the post-
copular noun (see Chapter 5, Section 2). This shows that the cleft pronoun
is therefore underspecified, rather than truly general, preferring a specific
(or restrictive) interpretation.
(37) *It was that he had never replied to her letters that he said
(38) It was that he had never replied to her letters that he (most)
regretted
Again, the reason for this difference in acceptability seems to lie in the
fact that sentences such as (38) are closer to the it-cleft prototype. Here, the
factive clause refers to an actually occurring event. In such sentence, the
that-clause can be replaced by other noun-like elements, such as gerunds
(his insistence that he was in the right) and adjectival nominalizations (his
carelessness) (see Kiparsky and Kiparsky 1970). However, these nominal
constructions cannot replace that-clause complements of non-factive verbs.
It makes sense then, that when presented with that-clause foci, the hearer
interprets them as referring to existentially presupposed events, rather than
to some abstract concept such as the words somebody said. In example
230 The it-cleft and constructional change
(37) then, the non-factive verb say conflicts with our prior assumption that
the proposition expressed in the postcopular clause is true.
However, while it-clefts were originally restricted to NP foci denoting
the most discrete of entities, the early wh-clefts do not share this same char-
acteristic. According to Traugott (2008), the specificational wh-cleft did not
emerge until the late seventeenth century, at a time when other specifica-
tional copular constructions were already well established. From her data, it
appears that the early what-cleft never had a particular association with NP
foci, occurring frequently with a range of clausal foci (including both fac-
tive and non-factive clauses) and verb phrase foci (such as to-infinitives).6
From the very beginning then, the wh-cleft could occur with categories
of foci which are not acceptable in the it-cleft. For example, the wh-cleft in
(39), containing a focal non-factive clause, is perfectly grammatical.
(39) What he said was that he had never replied to her letters
There are two possible reasons for this. First, since wh-clefts were never
really associated with nominal foci, the that-clause will not necessarily be
interpreted as a noun-like concept, such as an actually occurring event. Sec-
ondly, wh-clefts have a different linear order to it-clefts, which contain ex-
traposed relative clauses. In example (39) then, the non-factive verb say is
given prior to its clausal complement, marking it as non-presupposed. As a
result, the hearer cannot misinterpret the focal clause as factive. However,
the linear order of the description and the referent which matches this de-
scription cannot be the only reason for the grammaticality of wh-clefts with
non-factive foci. Otherwise, we could not explain why reverse wh-clefts,
6. Traugott (2008) suggests that wh-clefts with infinitival foci may have devel-
oped from non-specificational tokens. Originally, examples such as (i) had only
a purposive meaning (the thing I do is in order to please you). With the emer-
gence of the specificational wh-cleft, such examples could be reanalyzed. On
this new reading, the to-infinitive is identified as the thing that I do rather than
my purpose in doing it. The independence of this new meaning from the origi-
nal purposive construction is accomplished by the fact that to finally becomes
an optional element, allowing bare infinitive foci, shown in (ii). See Mair and
Winkle (2012) on the change from to-infinitive to bare infinitive in specifica-
tional pseudoclefts.
such as (40), are deemed more acceptable than their corresponding it-clefts
(see also Delin 1989: 97).
(40) ?That he had never replied to her letters was what he said
We have seen then that differences in the range of foci found in it-clefts
and wh-clefts can be traced to a subtle difference in the semantics of their
introductory elements. That the cleft it is semantically underspecified helps
to explain why it-clefts can occur with prepositional phrases that cannot be
classified by other nouns; that the cleft it prefers a specific interpretation
means that prototypically predicative elements (which are not mutually
exclusive) will not make for acceptable it-cleft foci without the use of coer-
cion strategies. In contrast, the what of wh-clefts is semantically general but
is nevertheless specified as near synonymous with the thing. This provides
a reason as to why the wh-cleft is open to a wider range of syntactic catego-
ries, which denote all manner of things, including objects, properties and
actions. In turn, this shows why wh-clefts are historically less associated
with NP foci and why only it-clefts exhibit a clear preference for focusing
noun-like elements.
232 The it-cleft and constructional change
(44) Hey look! Thats my friend Jeremy Triggs over there. Hes a
lexicographer. What he does is find alert readers who recognize
new words or new usages for ordinary ones.
(45) Hey look! Thats my friend Jeremy Triggs over there. #What he
does is find alert readers who recognize new words or new usages
for ordinary ones. (examples from Ward and Birner 2004: 157)
8. In contrast, Gundel (1985: 98) suggests that it is the it-cleft and not the wh-
cleft whose relative clause must contain material that is already in the addres-
sees consciousness at the time of utterance. Gundel claims that the it-clefts
sentence-final topic clause refers an entity which is not only familiar but
activated. In other words, it is the focus of attention. On this account, we would
expect that the wh-cleft can occur at the very beginning of a discourse when
the addressees attention can generally not be expected to be focused on the
topic, but that the corresponding it-cleft will not be appropriate in such a
context (Gundel 1985: 97). However, as Collins (1991a: 105) notes, it is only
IP it-clefts that can occur in initial position in such contexts; wh-clefts are only
found discourse-initially when the information in the relative clause is inferable
from the speech situation. For instance, in Gundels (1985: 98) example below,
the fact that the lecture is on some topic is inferable from our existing know-
ledge of how lectures work and is therefore present in the hearers conscious-
ness.
from the fact that the speaker sews books, that something is rotten or
amiss with them. However, the theme of this discourse, i.e. what it is about,
is books, not what is rotten; thus the it-cleft is ideally suited to the task.
(46) So I learned to sew books. Theyre really good books Its just
the covers that are rotten.
(Bookbinder in Terkel 1974 [Prince 1978: 896])
(47) So I learned to sew books. Theyre really good books. Whats
rotten is just the covers. (Prince 1978: 896)
sibility for the content of the announcement, and goes on record instead as
expressing an appropriate emotion.
(53) I began this thesis with images of the positive, generous sexuality
of the ancient Turkish deities and I conclude, with the inescapable
fact that, bar the Tantric tradition, it is the sexuality of the
Goddess, and consequently real women, that has suffered most in
the process of transition that the Aryan heroes brought into the
worlds symbolic art forms so variously enshrined in each religious
tradition. (W1A-008 011, student essay, MA dissertation)
cooperatively assume that the fact that the speaker intends to express their
meaning and that they have relevant thoughts and opinions will be in the
hearers consciousness (see Prince 1978: 890891). Thus we find wh-clefts
introduced by expressions such as what I mean is, what I mean to say is,
what worries me is and what Ive noticed is, to name but a few. Sentences
like these, including (57), provide the speaker with a forum to express their
views through the construction of a specificational relationship which has
neither a prior basis nor a grounding in fact. As Prince (1978: 891) com-
ments, such WH-clefts are often used not simply for clarifying previous
assertions, but also for remaking them.
(58) What Im saying is, you shouldnt let her boss you about
9. Such examples provide support for the claim made by den Dikken, Meinunger,
and Wilder (2000) and Schlenker (2003) that NPI connectivity in wh-clefts can
be accounted for by invoking ellipsis. The wh-cleft differs from other specifica-
tional constructions in that it licenses negative polarity items in the focal posi-
238 The it-cleft and constructional change
Bolinger (1977: 11) suggests that the word that is inherently anaphoric. The
lack of that in (58) therefore indicates that the postcopular clause expresses
a brand-new assertion.
In these presentational wh-clefts, the proposition expressed in the focal
clause is thus more informative than both the information in the precopular
clause and also the relationship of specification that exists between them.
The development of this discourse function seems to be related to a gradual
change in the information status of the precopular fused relative. According
to Koops and Hilperts (2009) diachronic study, the wh-cleft has come to
be introduced by increasingly general descriptions over time. For example,
while the highly general verb do was often found in the precopular phrase
of early wh-clefts (see also Traugott 2008), the construction now commonly
occurs with the even less specific verbs happen and be, see (59). The verb
happen is first attested in the wh-cleft in the late nineteenth century, and is
used frequently by the middle of the twentieth century. Most recently, the
verb be has become especially common in wh-clefts in present-day spoken
English.
Koops and Hilpert (2009: 235236) note that while the verb do requires
that the agent of the dynamic event is specified (what he did was), the
verb happen does not (what happened was); in turn, the verb be is maxi-
mally general since it can encompass both dynamic and stative events
(what it was was). As Prince (1978: 893) notes, such expressions are also
highly inferable, since there seems to be a pragmatic principle that says
that events keep occurring and that in our culture, at least, they are our
proper and constant concern.
tion, shown in (iv). If we assume that these sentences are in some way related
to wh-clefts with sentential foci, such as (v), then NPI connectivity in wh-clefts
can be explained. However, since tokens like (v) form a separate presentational
subtype of wh-cleft, an ellipsis approach is unlikely to be valid analysis for all
instances of the construction, contra Schlenker (2003). See Chapter 3, Section
4.3.2, for other accounts.
(60) Cause what youre doing is youre going up the side of the
allotments (Weinert and Miller 1996: 194)
Weinert and Miller (1996: 197) suggest that these wh-clefts have a macro-
discourse function: they all serve as the climax to a period of negotiation
between the instruction-giver and the instruction-follower, through which
the instruction-giver expresses their conclusions. However, wh-clefts are
also forwards pointing in that they function as a bridge to the next section
of discourse, in this case, leading into the next subset of instructions.
Hopper (2001) also finds that presentational wh-clefts play a significant
role in conversational turn-taking. He suggests that the precopular clause
delays the delivery of the main assertion, by adumbrating (foreshadowing)
the continuation in general terms without giving away the main point
(Hopper 2001: 114). This has the dual purpose of informing the reader that
10. Similarly, Hopper (2004: 156) finds that the pattern what (NP) {do, happen,
say} {is was} accounts for almost 90% of all occurrences in his corpus; he
concludes that the pseudocleft could almost be called formulaic.
11. This conclusion is supported by the use of punctuation in this striking token
taken from a college students written work. Here, a full stop separates the cleft
clause + copula from the clefted constituent; the latter is presented as a com-
pletely independent sentence.
(vi) The navy box like object he had placed in front of me caught my eye. I
was baffled by it. What I didnt realise was. I would later learn this would
be the most important item to save someones life.
240 The it-cleft and constructional change
what follows is worthy of attention as well as buying time for the speaker
to formulate the postcopular assertion, therefore enabling them to hold the
floor. In wh-clefts then, the specificational relationship between the pre-
copular description and the postcopular referent is often completed on-
line, decided by the speaker during the course of the utterance. This often
gives the wh-cleft a fragmentary appearance (Hopper 2004: 156), shown
in (61).12
(61) Okay, Right, Oh. Right what we need to do right is like eh...
(Weinert and Miller 1996: 194)
Indeed, Hopper and Thompson (2008) suggest that many apparent cases of
incomplete wh-clefts are instead instances of a distinct construction, in
which a wh-clause is used to project the upcoming stretch of discourse. In
other words, it tells us that there is more to come. They discuss example
(62), in which the wh-phrase is not followed by the copular verb, but by an
independent sentence functioning as a directive, cook all the fish. Although
there is still a specificational meaning here, in that the initial phrase classi-
fies the next sentence as the thing she should do, Hopper and Thomson
(2008: 108) suggest that the introductory expression serves mainly to
frame the following talk.
(62) what you oughta do though Mar,cook all the fish. cause we
wont use it,if you dont cook it.
(Hopper and Thompson 2008: 108)
Over time then, it seems that the wh-cleft has developed a new discourse
function in which the act of specification is so general that it functions only
as a simple presentational device. Indeed, for some speakers it may be that
this subtype of wh-cleft no longer has a specificational meaning at all. This
would explain the existence of the double is construction, exemplified by
(63), which contains two instances of the matrix copula.
(63) What it is is, is that I just cant see the point of doing it
12. See also Schmid (2001: 1536) on the use of definite NPs containing abstract
head nouns, such as the thing is, as a useful hesitation device. As Tuggy
(1996: 725) comments, The thing is is such a strongly entrenched automatic
unit, that it is easy for speakers to bring it out from their minds as a unit, even
before they have figured out what they want to say next.
A construction-specific development 241
In such sentences, the initial description (in this case, what it is) functions
as a unit with the first matrix copula be (see Brenier and Michaelis 2005).
Since this unit of information functions only as a formulaic presentational
device, a further copula is provided after the intonation break to reinforce
the specifying relationship between the postcopular clause and the initial
description. This construction has a further turn-taking function, providing
even more down time for the speaker to formulate their main assertion.13
We have seen then that the development of different discourse functions
for the it-cleft and wh-cleft constructions is related to their association with
known (or factual) information and with Chafe-given (or hearer-activated)
information, respectively. This, in turn, can be traced back to an early link
between it-clefts and discourse-old information and wh-clefts and inferable
information. These subtle differences in information-structure explain why
only the it-cleft has developed an informative-presupposition subtype and
why the wh-cleft has instead acquired a use as a presentational device. Both
of these developments involve subjectification. We have seen that while the
it-cleft can be employed as an indirect way of communicating the speakers
opinion in the cleft clause (under the guise of uncontroversial fact), the wh-
cleft configuration can be used as a way of introducing the speakers views
in the focal phrase (which is also dependent on the fact that wh-clefts allow
a full complement of clausal and verb phrase foci).
4.3. Summary
13. Tuggy (1996) provides a cognitive account of what he calls the 2-B construc-
tion, outlining a family of constructs which are more or less entrenched, in-
cluding the thing is is that CLAUSE and the problem is is that CLAUSE. However,
Tuggy does not discuss wh-clefts with double be. Pavey (2009) attempts to fill
this gap and notes a relationship with the amalgam construction shown in (vii).
Here, the focal NP hand sanitizer functions as the referent for both a specifica-
tional inversion sentence (its hand sanitizer) and a reverse wh-cleft (hand
sanitizer is what it is). Such constructs could also be said to perform a rein-
forcing role. See Massam (1999) for a generative account of the double is
construction.
(vii) Its hand sanitizer is what it is (interview transcript [Pavey 2009: 27])
242 The it-cleft and constructional change
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Index
inverse approach, 3032, 34, 38, 50 history of, 151152, 155 156, 160,
51, 7778, 106, 112, 115, 127128, 166168, 171, 173174, 176,
132133, 167, 169, 243 180181, 194196
inversion sentences, 3840, 57, 59 presupposition, 2, 11, 8082, 86, 103,
Irish and Irish English, 221 110, 140, 186, 244
it-cleft schema, 128129, 131, 135, governing change, 210, 213, 215
149, 178, 212216, 246 217, 220, 225, 247
see also informative-presupposition
Late Modern English, 161162, 189 it-clefts
190, 193197, 200204, 207211, proverbial it-clefts, 4, 120, 122124,
214, 220221, 224, 238 127, 129131, 245
history of, 149, 156, 179
Middle English, 149150, 154159, pseudoclefts, 78, 6263, 6970, 98
163166, 168170, 176177, 179 99, 145
181, 182n, 190191, 194200, 202, as a source for it-clefts, 8, 107109,
204n, 205206, 211, 219220 136137
mismatch, 1920, 24, 26, 40, 59, 72, see also all-clefts; th-clefts; wh-
114, 116, 213214 clefts
motivation, 1013, 2021, 25, 40, 59,
73, 119120, 156, 158, 161, 177 quantification, universal, 41, 45, 6869,
179, 183184, 243, 247 112, 117