ABSTRACT
One major insight of the assumed analysis of cleft sentences is that the same word order may express different discourse values, with object and subject clefts crucially differing in this respect. This same word order can correspond to different structures involving two different focus positions – in the clause internal vP periphery and in the clause external left periphery respectively – due to the presence of the copula, the fundamental atom of clefts, and its selective properties. The chapter develops this basic insight from previous related work and concentrates on the process of extraposition involved in cleft sentences and the role of predication in their computation.
