Functional Analysis of the “the X is” Construction: A Grammaticalization Perspective

Abstract

The different propositional meanings and degrees of grammaticalization of head nouns (X) in the source structure are the root cause of the marked differences in the synchronic usage of the “the X is”-type expressions. The grammaticalization gradience of typical expressions conforming to this structure may be presented from high to low as follows: the thing is > the truth is/the fact is > the trouble is/the point is/the problem is> the reason is/.... Among them, the thing is is grammaticalized to a relatively high degree, and thus is more frequently used as a discourse marker; the trouble is, the point is and the problem is are grammaticalized to a relatively lower degree, and therefore are primarily used as comment clauses; most expressions of this type as in the case of the reason is, are minimally grammaticalized and retain their propositional meaning as matrix clauses.