PRIMITIVE SENTENCE PATTERNS © Mg, J. L. Stamboni—UNLP, 2011 The following sentence types can be desctibed as ‘basic’ or ‘primitive’ because all of them contain ght verbs which denote spontaneous stats, ie. with absence of CAUSE and/or an initiator semantic tole in their 0-grid. Furthermore, all of these sentences describe an uncaused spatial relation between a definite or indefinite seme argument and a physical or figurative location argument. 1, EXISTENTIAL —» There 1 a libtaty in my neighbourhood FOTOCOPIADGRA owen = Danae GEHCE 2. LOCATIVE — That library is in my neighbourhood. THEME Location puma pernare 4. POSSESSIVE —> My neighbourhood #45 a library. DEFINITE INDEFINITE 3. ATTRIBUTIVE — Thatlibrary iShuge | ‘That ibrary 1° a great institution, DEPINITE ADJECTIVE DERINITE NOMINAL EXISTENTIAL SENTENCES In existential sentences, the seme argument must be an INDEFINITE (PRO)NOMINAL construction which cannot take the (Spec-TP) subject position because of its INDEFIVITENESS. Pragmatically speaking, INDEFINITE topics/themes (lypir vs. comment or theme vs. rheme) are inappropriate, since a speaker can hardly predicate something about an entity whose reference is vague or which is not shared information with the hearer. According to David Crystal (Making Sease of Grammar, Pearson, Longman, 2004), "What the there-construction does is highlight a clause as a whole, presenting it to the listener or reader as if everything in it is a new piece of information. It gives the entire clause a fresh status. In this respect, existential sentences are very different from the other ways of varying information structure, which focus on individual elements inside a clause." What is actually “new information” is the sheme argument, not the location, which, even when it is implicit, it is interpreted as DEFINITE and, in a certain sense, given or shared, Existential sentences inform about the impertective continuous presence of a figar [i.c. the theme argument}, introduced as new information, against a groin (ie. the location argument), which is necessarily given or shared information. A small range of presentational verbs, such as: appear, arise, ascend, come, emenge, exist, occur spring np, stand, etc. may appear in the so-called EXISTENTIAL SENTENCES. The nominal construction following the verb is usually indefinite, as shown by such determiners as a and any. Fot some researchers, the DEFINITENESS restriction in fhere-sentences can be explained on the basis of the assumption that only non-specific indefinites may carry partitive Case. Given that unaccusatives —including BE and raising vetbs like SEEM cannot assign objective Case, the ‘heme argument ia expletive-constructions cannot be a DEFINITE determiner phrase (Lasnik 1992, 1995). @) a or Are to be a picture of the wall) is unusual b. 1 found [discovered] (there to be no basis for the allegation). Belletti (1988), Lasnik (1992, 1995), and Schiitze (1999) argue that PARTITTVE CASE is assigned to the theme argument by wnadcusative verbs including BE and raising verbs. Under this assumption, (2b) and (3b) are ruled out since the theme argument is not in a proper position for partitive Case-marking: 2) & Thereis believed (eer to be a man killed) b. *There is believed (shore to be killed a man) @G) a. There seems (Here to be someone in the room) b. *Thare seems (#here someont to be in the room). How can we explain that the predicate agrees with the theme argument in (4)? (4 There ate//*is several cats in the backyard.+ There is always some madness in love, but there is also always some reason in madness. (Priedsich Nieuache, "On Reading and Weting” Thos Spoke Zarate) + In the great green room, there was a telephone and a red balloon and 2 picture of the cow jumping over the ‘moon. (Macgiet Wite Brown, Goodnight, Moon, 1947) + Rick, there are many exit visas (Gold in this café). theme argument contanig reduced relative clause + implicit location (Captain Renault, Casablanes) + There's a strange cat in the garden. + There were lots of people in town. + There weren't any apples on the tree. + There appeared a bright star in the sky. ‘Is there a Movie Theater in Durango? + Is there a strange cat in the garden? + Where is there a strange cat? + Where is there a good tutorial on prom make-up? + Where is there « hotel to stay at in Manila that allows children, that is cheap? + Where is there a hat repair shop near Autora, Ilinois? + Whete is thete a character named Sigourney in The Great Gatuby? + Where are there grocery stores? + Whete is thete a phatmacy? + Are there any stores open 24 hours? + Where is the nearest U.S, Post Office? [LOCATIVE sentence] + Where is the closest Airport? LOCATIVE sentence] RAISING Thre is believed to be a man killed. ‘There seems to be someone in the room, There seems to be a sttange cat in the garden. OPTIONAL RAISING ? Te seems (thete to be a strange cat in the garden). ‘And while it seems (there to be a C5 or C6 in every direction one looks), there still are far fewer of each generation on the road than the C3s and Cs. We on the outside fantasise about life on the inside of those locked doors —it seems (there to be a land of Hberation, violence, sensuality, extravagance). Among the immigrants, it seems (there to be a consent that the Brazilians work more than the Japanese). Te seems (there to be a non-coincidence between energy production and energy consumption). Existential: There is a cat on the roof. Bp fe Se aecall 5 NLocative: The cat is on the roof. Se eet D D t vp ny Eee re] 6 N 38 LP v ° neighbourhood aSQUALIFICATIONAL Joe is tall. (penoanenTQvatrry] “Joris sad today. [rexerORARy QUALITY] SORTAL ATTRIBUTIVE SENTENCES: Joc is a teacher. (peRwanent sont] “This obit is not a truck. (asain sOxT} EQUATIVE [x= ] This man és nay brother. (PERMANENT STATE] My brother is thit man. (pencanen stare) That isnot what wou were supposed to bag. [PERMANENT STATE] What you were supposed to buy is wot that. (PERMANENT STATE) What you've just said is not what we expect to hear What we essect to bear is not what you've just said