Are it-Clefts Really "Cleft" Constructions?

The present paper offers an analysis of it -clefts as illustrations of a special case of extraposition of a complex noun phrase featuring a restrictive relative clause. To achieve this, it investigates how it -clefts are generated, how they are constructed and how they function. A qualitative, corpus -based analysis helps to identify the properties and characteristics of it -clefts, reviewing traditional syntactic and semantic analyses and comparing it -clefts to related marked, non -canonical constructions-extraposition and pseudo-clefting. Our hypothesis on the genesis of it -clefts also makes it possible to explain cases of (dis)agreement or (mis)match between the matrix and the subor - dinate clause. The study thus shows that it -clefts are not mere syntactic devices but that their syntax is semantically and cognitively motivated. It finally emerges that it -clefts constitute a single, unified category, both syntactically and semantically.