| Sentences are the linguistic representations of the results of human cognition of the actions and states in the objective world.As a marked sentence,the cleft sentence reflects the subjectivity of human cognition, and in the process of its generation and application,human cognitive ability plays a very important role.However,previous researches on the cleft sentence only focus on its form and function.They have described its syntactical features,analyzed its discourse and textual functions,and provided rules for transforming a non-cleft sentence into a cleft sentence, but few of them have probed into the deep cause that motivates the generation of the cleft sentence.Based on the framework of the prominence view,this thesis has made a study on the cleft sentence with the help of the figure/ground principle and the concepts of thematic roles,resulting in providing cognitive motivation for the generation and application of the cleft sentence,and in supplying cognitive interpretations to all the grammatical features presented by the cleft sentence.In this thesis,prominence has been divided into conventional prominence and contextual prominence.Conventional prominence is the natural prominence of entities perceived in the process of human cognition.Entities with natural prominence can take the position of subject to manifest their prominent status.However,in specific contexts, entities without natural prominence can become objects of human cognition and be represented linguistically by special grammatical devices.This is contextual prominence.Contextually prominent entities can be put into the slot of subject to manifest prominence,which results in marked subjects.When the prominence of contextually prominent entities is manifested by special constructions,marked constructions are generated.The cleft sentence is just such a marked construction,the generation of which is cognitively motivated by contextual prominence. According to the figure/ground principle,the cleft sentence is regarded as a special construction of "Trigger + Figure + Ground",in which It be is the trigger,the position behind the trigger is the focal position where the figure is placed to manifest contextual prominence,and the clause introduced by that/who is the ground.There are many restrictions on the use of the cleft sentence.Starting from the prominence view,the thesis points out that only entities with features which can distinguish them from the surroundings can be profiled and become the figure of contextual prominence,and that, linguistically,the figure should be an independent and complete thematic role.The thesis has analyzed the thematic roles of different sentence members and offered unified interpretations to the constraints on the use of the cleft sentence.In addition,this thesis has discussed the influence of the prominence view on the pragmatic significance of the cleft sentence, and it points out that such pragmatic functions as presupposition, implicature and rhetoric of the cleft sentence are closely related to contextual prominence. |
