Publications

In this chapter, we argue against the view that the syntax of clefts codes focus-presupposition semantics. Theoretically, we assume that grammar and prosody code distinct types of functional organisation, while descriptively, we ground the proposed account in corpus study of contextualised spoken data. We argue that it-clefts are specificational constructions, whose relative clause and antecedent represent an open proposition and its filler, ...

This chapter addresses a number of gaps in the description of English binominal NPs with a type noun (TN) and a second noun (N2) with lexical functions. So far the literature has concentrated mainly on NPs with the surface order ‘TN + N2’, neglecting NPs which manifest as a surface string with reversed N2 – TN order. We thrash out a functional-structural account of all the nominal constructions with lexical functions featuring these two surface ...

This paper develops a framework capable of analysing modal qualifications coded by both canonical modal markers and grammaticalized expressions within a semiotic grammar approach (McGregor 1997). We focus on grammatical constructions that developed from complement constructions containing the shell nouns need, way, chance, doubt, question and wonder, often preceded by a negative quantifier. We range the different types of modal qualification in ...

This article addresses the question of the textual motivation of clitic doubling in Spanish with a case study of indirect object doubling in 18th, 19th and 20th century Argentinian Spanish. Doubling has been claimed to have originated with preposed and stressed topical NPs and to have increased in frequency until it was obligatory in those contexts. This is confirmed by our data. Both this development and the further ongoing spread of doubling ...

This issue on Communicative Dynamism brings together contributions investigating various dimensions of what is most commonly called information structure. In terms of theoretical affiliation, all contributors have their roots in the Hallidayan functional tradition, whose indebtedness to Prague School linguistics is well-established (e.g., Halliday 1974; Davidse1987). By choosing the term Communicative Dynamism coined by Czech linguist Jan Firbas ...