Funny you should say that

Abstract

Abstract This paper investigates the formal and functional properties of so-called semi-insubordination (SIS), i.e. complex sentences with an ‘incomplete’ matrix clause (e.g. Funny that you should say that), on the basis of corpus data. It is shown that SIS differs in its function from the structurally related constructions it-extraposition and exclamatives, exhibiting its own functional profile: viz. expressing a subjectivizing speaker evaluation which is non-exclamative, deictically anchored, and relates to a non-presupposed proposition. Given these functional idiosyncrasies it is argued that SIS is best analysed as a construction in its own right (in terms of Construction Grammar) rather than simply an incomplete elliptical structure.