Universal #380

Legacy number: 380

 Number  379
 Original  Every language has cleft constructions, either wh-clefts or it-clefts or both.
 Standardized  Every language has cleft constructions, either wh-clefts or it-clefts or both.
 Keywords  topic, cleft, wh-cleft, it-cleft
 Domain  syntax, pragmatics
 Type  unconditional
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  a sample of 30 languages, see Gundel 1988: 210
 Source  Gundel 1988: 231

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Discussion
Notes
1. Wh-cleft or pseudocleft (= topic-comment cleft constructions), e.g. in Japanese (Japanese-Ryukyuan):Mado o watta no wa Taro da [window obj broke top be] “The one who broke a window was Taro”.2. It-cleft constructions where comment precedes topic have the form [(it)(BE) NP][NP], where the first NP is focus and the second NP is a headless relative clause that describes the topic, e.g. in Russian:Eto Ivana ja videl [it/that ACC I saw“It (was) Ivan I saw”.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. Wh-cleft or pseudocleft (= topic-comment cleft constructions), e.g. in Japanese (Japanese-Ryukyuan):
Mado o watta no wa Taro da
[window obj broke top be]
"The one who broke a window was Taro".

2. It-cleft constructions where comment precedes topic have the form [(it)(BE) NP][NP], where the first NP is focus and the second NP is a headless relative clause that describes the topic, e.g. in Russian:
Eto Ivana ja videl
[it/that ACC I saw]
"It (was) Ivan I saw".