| Acknowledgements | 第1-8页 |
| Abstract | 第8-10页 |
| 内容摘要 | 第10-12页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第12-16页 |
| ·Background of the study | 第12-14页 |
| ·Purpose of the study | 第14页 |
| ·Methodology of the study | 第14页 |
| ·Identification of terms | 第14-15页 |
| ·Organization of the thesis | 第15-16页 |
| Chapter Two Literature Review | 第16-34页 |
| ·Introduction | 第16页 |
| ·The synchronic approach to clefts | 第16-29页 |
| ·Traditional studies | 第16-21页 |
| ·Fowler and Fowler (1906/1973)'s analysis | 第16-17页 |
| ·Poutsma(1916/1928)'s analysis | 第17-19页 |
| ·Jespersen(1927/1937)'s analysis | 第19-20页 |
| ·Polotzky(1960)'s and Huddleston(1984)'s analysis | 第20-21页 |
| ·Transformational studies | 第21-24页 |
| ·Akmajian(1970)'s analysis | 第21-22页 |
| ·Gundel(1977)'s analysis | 第22-23页 |
| ·Delahunty(1984)'s analysis | 第23-24页 |
| ·Functional studies | 第24-29页 |
| ·Prince (1978)'s analysis | 第24-25页 |
| ·Halliday (1985/1994)'s analysis | 第25-26页 |
| ·Collins (1991)'s analysis | 第26-27页 |
| ·Huang (2003)'s analysis | 第27-29页 |
| ·The diachronic approach to clefts | 第29-33页 |
| ·Ball (1991/1994)'s analysis | 第29-30页 |
| ·Harris and Campbell (1995)'s analysis | 第30-31页 |
| ·Patten (2007)'s analysis | 第31页 |
| ·Traugott (2008)'s analysis | 第31-33页 |
| ·Summary | 第33-34页 |
| Chapter Three Clausal Integration in the Formation of Clefts | 第34-57页 |
| ·Introduction | 第34页 |
| ·Preliminary remarks on clausal integration of clefts | 第34-41页 |
| ·Clausal integration across clauses | 第34-36页 |
| ·Componentiality in the linguistic structure | 第36-39页 |
| ·Clefts as specificational sentences | 第39-41页 |
| ·Clausal integration in formation of the original it-clefts | 第41-56页 |
| ·The question-answer pair in the original it-clefts | 第42-44页 |
| ·Realization of clausal integration in the original it-clefts | 第44-56页 |
| ·Identifying the questions behind clefts | 第44-47页 |
| ·Realization of clausal integration in it-clefts | 第47-56页 |
| ·Summary | 第56-57页 |
| Chapter Four Categorical Extensions in the Clefts | 第57-76页 |
| ·Introduction | 第57页 |
| ·Some preliminary notions in the extensions of clefts | 第57-60页 |
| ·Usage-based model | 第57-58页 |
| ·Key notions in usage-based model | 第58-60页 |
| ·The extensions of it-cleft category | 第60-69页 |
| ·The general hypothesis | 第60-61页 |
| ·Type frequency and entrenchment of‘NP-foci’it-clefts | 第61-64页 |
| ·The horizontal extensions among it-clefts | 第64-69页 |
| ·The extensions from it-clefts to pseudoclefts | 第69-75页 |
| ·Historical features in the evolvement of pseudoclefts | 第69-71页 |
| ·Reanalysis in the formation pseudoclefts | 第71-72页 |
| ·Analogy in the formation of pseudoclefts | 第72-75页 |
| ·Summary | 第75-76页 |
| Chapter Five The Cognitive Motivations of Clefts | 第76-99页 |
| ·Introduction | 第76页 |
| ·The cognitive basis of clefts | 第76-82页 |
| ·Focusing as motivation for linguistic organization | 第76-77页 |
| ·Functions of focusing in the clefts | 第77-79页 |
| ·Figure and ground alignment in clefts | 第79-82页 |
| ·The cognitive motivations of the basic elements in it-clefts | 第82-95页 |
| ·The subject‘it’ | 第82-83页 |
| ·The‘copula be’ | 第83-90页 |
| ·The functions of‘copula be’ | 第83-86页 |
| ·‘Copula be’and the agreement phenomenon | 第86-90页 |
| ·The cleft constituents | 第90-94页 |
| ·Identifying the class of cleft constituents in it-clefts | 第91-92页 |
| ·Syntactic features of cleft constituents in it-clefts | 第92-94页 |
| ·The cleft clause | 第94-95页 |
| ·The cognitive account of pseudoclefts | 第95-98页 |
| ·Summary | 第98-99页 |
| Chapter Six Conclusion | 第99-102页 |
| ·Introduction | 第99页 |
| ·Major findings | 第99-100页 |
| ·Limitations of this study | 第100-101页 |
| ·Suggestions for future study | 第101-102页 |
| References | 第102-107页 |
