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A Semantics for the English Existential Construction
Contributor(s): McNally, Louise (Author)
ISBN: 1138690880     ISBN-13: 9781138690882
Publisher: Routledge
OUR PRICE:   $47.49  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: February 2018
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Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Language Arts & Disciplines | Grammar & Punctuation
- Language Arts & Disciplines | Linguistics - Syntax
- Language Arts & Disciplines | Linguistics - Semantics
Dewey: 420.143
Series: Routledge Library Editions: Semantics and Semiology
Physical Information: 222 pages
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

First published in 1997, this book addresses the question: What is the interpretation of English there-existential construction? One of the principal goals is to develop an interpretation for the construction that will specifically address other properties of the postcopular DP. After outlining the problem, the author goes on to present a syntactic motivation for the claim that the postcopular DP is the sole complement to the existential predicate, as well as for the claim that the optional final phrase is a predictive adjunct. In chapter 3 the interpretation for the basic existential construction is developed and then compared to analyses that take the postcopular DP to denote an ordinary individual or a generalised quantifier of individuals. This analysis is then augmented to account for the contribution of the final XP and shows how the predicate restriction can be derived from a more general condition on depictive/circumstantial VP-adjuncts. The final chapter contain some speculative discussion of the broader implications of the proposal in the context of data such as list existential and presentational-there sentences.