Frequency of It-clefts

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Frequency is one of the key indicators of contact-induced language change.

 In assessing whether or not a change in the way a linguistic structure is being used is underway, Heine and Kuteva (2005) point out that:

. . . the starting point is an increase in the frequency of use of an existing pattern as a result of the influence of some model pattern, that is, speakers of the replica language tend to employ a pattern that is marginally or infrequently used, and they use it more frequently, thereby replicating what is conceived of as an equivalent use pattern in another language. 

 

 

The findings of the frequency analysis of it-clefts also fall within the scope of Silva-Corvalán’s (1994) definition of what constitutes a possibility of indirect language transfer:

Language transfer may have occurred [when there is a] . . .  higher frequency of use of a form in a language S, determined on the basis of a comparison with more conservative internal community norms in contexts where a partially corresponding form in language F is used either categorically or preferentially. (p. 4)