In studies of copular clauses the relation between specificational and predicative clauses has
been a contentious issue. While most studies agree on the analysis of predicative clauses
specificational clauses have sparked much debate. A key concern is how specificational clauses
with indefinite 'variable' NP (e.g. A popular holiday go-to is Rome) compare to and contrast
with other copular clauses especially specificational clauses with definite 'variable' NP
(e.g. The main can't-miss in Italy is Rome) and predicative clauses with indefinite predicate
nominative (e.g. Rome is a great city). This book addresses this concern by offering a
functional-structural analysis of these three clause types in terms of their common
characteristics and distinguishing features. The analysis of the clauses' structure and meaning
is substantiated by evidence from corpus research which probes into various aspects of their
actual usage (e.g. information structure and prosody discourse-embedding). In doing so the
book offers an empirical basis for testing existing assumptions about predicative and
specificational clauses while also providing new insights into the interaction between the
grammar and discourse usage of copular clauses.
