comp:cleft Edit the page

The comp:cleft relation is used in cleft sentences for the dependency from the head of the sentence to the head of the complement clause.

English

French

Sometimes, there is an ambiguity between a relative clause and a cleft clause. Consider the sentence It is the electric car that I chose.

If someone utters this sentence in a context where they must choose between a gasoline car and an electric car, the sentence is interpreted as a cleft sentence with the following annotation.

English

But if the sentence is uttered in a context where the speaker is referring to one of several electric cars, the sentence is interpreted as having a relative clause with the following annotation.

English