Syntactic and Semantic Parallels between All-cleft and The Only Thing Construction in English

This study demonstrates the syntactic and semantic similarities between all-cleft and the only thing construction in English, aiming to provide a comprehensive analysis of their properties. Through careful analysis, we highlight how each construction manipulates information and discourse structures for emphasis, topic introduction, and topicalized presupposition. Especially, this investigation observes distinct effects in terms of focus and scope, especially when emphasizing the verb phrase (VP) in what-cleft, all-cleft and the only thing constructions. Subsequently, we discuss the parallels between all-cleft and the only thing construction, aiming to determine whether they share syntactic and semantic similarities. Additionally, we revisit the assertion that the all-cleft is a subset of the what-cleft, proposing a systematic examination of their underlying structures from a minimalist perspective. Hence, this study posits that the all-cleft and the only thing constructions are accomplished through DP topicalization rather than conventional clefting operation. Overall, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of all-cleft constructions in English. (Chungnam National University)