Cleft constructions have long presented an analytical challenge for syntactic theory. This monograph argues that clefts and related constructions cannot be analysed in a straightforwardly compositional manner. Instead, it proposes that the locality conditions on modification (for example by a restrictive relative clause) must be reformulated such that they account for the apparent compositionality of DP-internal modification whilst also permitting discontinuous modification of the type which is independently needed for constructions such as relative clause extraposition. The empirical focus...
Cleft constructions have long presented an analytical challenge for syntactic theory. This monograph argues that clefts and related constructions cann...