| Title |
Lithuanian and the syntactic structure of pseudo-clefts |
| Authors |
Holvoet, Aksel |
| DOI |
10.1515/stuf-2026-2004 |
| Full Text |
|
| Is Part of |
STUF - Language typology and universals.. Berlin : Walter de Gruyter GmbH. 2026, vol. 79, iss. 1, p. 127-146.. ISSN 1867-8319. eISSN 2196-7148 |
| Keywords [eng] |
cleft construction ; constructionalisation ; Lithuanian ; pseudo-cleft construction ; reanalysis |
| Abstract [eng] |
The article deals with the pseudo-cleft construction (also known as wh -cleft) in Lithuanian, a Baltic language. It focuses on the syntactic and morphosyntactic changes that have set the Lithuanian pseudo-cleft apart from its source construction, the specificational copular construction. It is argued that this pseudo-cleft has become monoclausal as a result of a process in which the kernel component of the pseudo-cleft construction (consisting of relative pronoun, relative-clause verb and copula/focus marker) became non-compositional and started occupying a slot corresponding to that of the simple-clause verb. This process may have been driven by the morphosyntactic marking assigned by the relative-clause verb being copied onto the focus noun phrase and subsequently being reanalysed as governed by the pseudo-cleft kernel component as a whole. As a result of these processes, the Lithuanian pseudo-cleft is superficially still similar to the original specificational construction from which it derives, but certain morphosyntactic and syntactic features betray it as being monoclausal. The Lithuanian pseudo-cleft is further considered against a cross-linguistic background to point out that it represents a non-trivial and typologically interesting instantiation of the more general process of development of clefts and pseudo-clefts into monoclausal structures. |
| Published |
Berlin : Walter de Gruyter GmbH |
| Type |
Journal article |
| Language |
English |
| Publication date |
2026 |
| CC license |
|
