ABSTRACT

Different classifications of existential clauses (ECs) have been proposed in the literature, including structural classifications, classifications according to the source construction and classifications according to the functions performed by ECs. However, no serious attempt has been made to typologize ECs according to the semantic nature of the most essential element of the construction, i.e. the existent. In this regard, this study recognizes two types of existentials: entity- and event-existentials. The latter is a much-ignored category, though it is an important one that has implications for some of the controversial issues in the literature. For example, it can be correlated to the controversy over the NP analysis or the small clause analysis of the coda. It is argued that these two analyses are not alternatives to each other; rather they are suited to the two types of ECs respectively, i.e. the NP analysis to entity-existentials and the small clause analysis to event-existentials. Further, it is shown that this new typology also has relevance for the two semantic restrictions on ECs, i.e. the definiteness effect mainly concerns entity-existentials, and the predication restriction event-existentials.

摘要

文献中提出了不同的存在条款（ECs）分类，包括结构分类，根据来源结构的分类和根据ECs执行功能的分类。然而，并没有认真尝试根据结构中最基本元素（即存在物）的语义性质对 ECs 进行类型化。在这方面，本研究认识到两种类型的存在：实体存在和事件存在。后者是一个非常被忽视的类别，尽管它是一个重要的类别，对文献中的一些有争议的问题有影响。例如，它可以与 NP 分析或尾声的小子句分析的争议相关联。有人认为，这两种分析不能相互替代。相反，它们分别适用于两种类型的EC，即对实体存在的NP 分析和对事件存在的小条款分析。此外，表明这种新的类型学也与 EC 的两个语义限制相关，即确定性效应主要涉及实体存在性和谓词限制事件存在性。