The syntax of existential sentences in Serbian

  • Freeze (1992) argued on the basis of data from several different languages that there is a close relationship between existential sentences (stating the existence of an entity) and locative sentences (stating the location of an entity). Freeze (1992) proposes that they are both derived from the same base structure and that the surface differences are rather due to the distinct information structures.This paper argues against this position with the data from Serbian existentials, which show clear syntactic differences from the locatives. Thus, the close relationship between existential and locative sentences that Freeze (1992) observes is conceptual, but not (necessarily) part of the syntax of the language. In order to account for the data, we propose that existential sentences originate from a different syntactic predication structure than the locative ones. The existential meaning arises, as we will show, from the interaction of this predication structure with the structure and meaning of the noun phrase.

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Metadaten
Author:Jutta M. Hartmann, Nataša Milicevic
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-1111464
Document Type:Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2008/11/04
Year of first Publication:2008
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2008/11/04
Tag:Serbisch
Serbian
Note:
auch in: Andrei Antonenko / John F. Bailyn / Christina Y. Bethin / Ann Arbor : Formal approaches to Slavic linguistics 16 : The Stony Brook Meeting 2007, S. 168-184
Source:Andrei Antonenko / John F. Bailyn / Christina Y. Bethin / Ann Arbor : Formal approaches to Slavic linguistics 16 : The Stony Brook Meeting 2007, S. 168-184
HeBIS-PPN:206974671
Dewey Decimal Classification:4 Sprache / 40 Sprache / 400 Sprache
Sammlungen:Linguistik
Linguistik-Klassifikation:Linguistik-Klassifikation: Syntax
Licence (German):License LogoDeutsches Urheberrecht