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15 - Cleft Sentences and Relative Clauses

from Part Three - Topics in RRG: Complex Sentences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2023

By
Luis París
Edited by
Delia Bentley ,
Ricardo Mairal Usón ,
Wataru Nakamura  and
Robert D. Van Valin, Jr
Delia Bentley
Affiliation:
University of Manchester
Ricardo Mairal Usón
Affiliation:
Universidad National de Educación a Distancia, Madrid
Wataru Nakamura
Affiliation:
Tohoku University, Japan
Robert D. Van Valin, Jr
Affiliation:
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
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Summary

This chapter proposes a Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) analysis of externally and internally headed relative clauses, free relatives, non-restrictive relatives, and it-cleft sentences. Particular emphasis is placed on the interface properties of these constructions and the challenges that they pose in the syntax–semantics and semantics–syntax linking. The chapter also reflects on the similarities and differences between relatives and clefts.

Keywords

restrictive relative clausesnon-restrictive relative clausesAccessibility Hierarchyexternally headed relative clausesinternally headed relative clausesfree relativescleft sentenceslinking
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Role and Reference Grammar , pp. 591 - 615
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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References

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