Notes on Expletive There

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard S. Kayne
Keyword(s):  
Blocking Effect ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Internal Position ◽  
Preposition Stranding ◽  
Existential Sentences ◽  
Definiteness Effect

AbstractSentences with the verb exist and with a lexical DP in subject position show no definiteness effect. This suggests that the definiteness effect is keyed in English to the presence of expletive there. More strongly put, a definiteness effect is invariably found whenever expletive there (or a counterpart of it in other languages, whether pronounced or not) is present. This effect may in some languages be limited to the case of unstressed pronouns.Expletive there and its counterparts originate within the associate (in a way that accounts for the expletive being there, and not then). In part, this conclusion is driven by anti-homophony. Freeze noted that English is exceptional in having expletive there in subject position. The proposal will be that this is related to English allowing preposition-stranding under A-movement.The definiteness effect itself results from a blocking effect, probably not specific to existential sentences, that certain determiners such as the impose on the movement of expletive there from its DP-internal position up to a sentential subject position.

scholarly journals Existential and locative constructions in Mandarin Chinese

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-267
Author(s):  
Waltraud Paul ◽  
Yaqiao Lu ◽  
Thomas Hun-tak Lee
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Existential Sentences ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Locative Inversion ◽  
Existential Construction ◽  
Source Structure

AbstractDespite previous studies (cf. among others Huang 1987. Existential sentences in Chinese and (in)definiteness. In Eric J. Reuland & Alice G.B. Ter Meulen (eds.), The representation of (In)definiteness, 226–253. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press; Li, Yen-Hui Audrey. 1990. Order and constituency in Mandarin Chinese. Dordrecht: Kluwer; Li, Yen-Hui Audrey. 1998. Two types of existential sentences. Illinois Papers in Linguistics 26. 175–191; Pan, Haihua. 1996. Imperfective aspect zhe, agent deletion, and locative inversion in Mandarin Chinese. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 14(2). 409–432), the defining characteristics of existential sentences in Chinese (including potential equivalents of locative inversion in English) have remained controversial. This is shown to be due to the failure to acknowledge the existence of two different constructions, the existential construction (ExC) ‘Ø V DP’ where a sentence-initial phrase indicating location (PlaceP) is not required, on the one hand, and the locative construction (LoC) with an obligatory PlaceP, on the other: ‘PlaceP V DP’. Only the ExC can serve as a diagnostic context for unaccusative verbs, whereas the LoC allows for a wide range of verbs, including a subset of unergative verbs. Furthermore, two types of LoC need to be distinguished, depending on the type of aspect (perfective aspect -le vs imperfective aspect -zhe), giving rise to different semantics. Both have, however, in common that the PlaceP occupies the subject position (SpecTP), not the topic position, and that it is merged in SpecTP, not moved there, as evidenced by the systematic lack of a corresponding source structure with the PlaceP in postverbal position.

The emergence of light verb constructions

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-156
Author(s):  
Jens Fleischhauer ◽  
Stefan Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Middle High German ◽  
Light Verb Constructions ◽  
Light Verb ◽  
Internal Position ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Reference Corpus ◽  
Early New High German ◽  
The One

Abstract This paper takes a data-driven perspective on the grammaticalization of German light verb constructions (LVCs) with kommen ‘come’. LVCs are complex predicates consisting of a semantically light verb and an eventive noun realized within a phrasal complement, e.g. German zur Vollendung kommen, lit. ‘come into completion’. We assume that (at least) two different processes interact in the emergence of LVCs: the desemanticization of the verb on the one hand and the realization of eventive nouns in the complement-PP of the verb on the other. In order to check whether these processes take place in parallel or if one precedes the other, we conduct a corpus study based on samples from the Reference Corpus of Middle High German (REM) and the Bonn Early New High German Corpus (FnhdC), focusing on the animacy and concreteness of the subject NPs and the PP-internal nouns. Our results indicate that we can first observe an increase in the use of abstract nouns in subject position and that only later – from Middle High German to Early New High German – eventive nouns in PP-internal position become more frequent.

An interface analysis of marked copular constructions: The case of there-sentences

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-307
Author(s):  
Francesca Ramaglia
Keyword(s):  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Interface Properties ◽  
Interface Analysis ◽  
Existential Sentences ◽  
Existential Constructions ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Definiteness Effect

AbstractThis paper proposes an interface account of existential sentences, in which the examination of the semantic, morphosyntactic, discourse and prosodic properties of these and related constructions is aimed to explore the similarities and differences with other types of IS-marked copular structures. In particular, a structural parallelism is proposed between existentials and clefts, as well as between (inverted) locatives and (inverted) pseudoclefts. In the analysis of existential constructions, the investigation of the Definiteness Effect reveals the need for a distinction across there-sentences; in particular, the interface properties of the relevant structures suggest that different analyses should be provided for existential and presentational there-sentences, which present crucial formal asymmetries at various levels of analysis.

PLASMA CORTICOSTEROID LEVELS AND ADRENAL ASCORBIC ACID AFTER INTRAVENOUS CORTICOTROPHIN INJECTIONS AND »STRESSFUL« STIMULI IN THE RAT

1962 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 527-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavo Hedner ◽  
Claus Rerup
Keyword(s):  
Ascorbic Acid ◽  
Abdominal Surgery ◽  
Response Curve ◽  
Significant Rise ◽  
Blocking Effect ◽  
High Dose ◽  
Ascorbic Acid Concentration ◽  
Unilateral Adrenalectomy ◽  
Subcutaneous Injections ◽  
Hypophysectomized Rats

ABSTRACT Measurements of plasma corticosteroid levels and adrenal ascorbic acid concentration in steroid blocked and hypophysectomized rats were performed. It was found that prednisolone and dexamethasone were effective in blocking endogenous corticotrophin release within 3–4 hours after subcutaneous injection. These agents also prevented completely the normally occurring rise in plasma corticoid levels after exposure of the rats to ether. Abdominal surgery (unilateral adrenalectomy) resulted in a slight but significant rise in plasma corticoid levels in spite of dexamethasone blockade. The values of adrenal ascorbic acid were not affected significantly. The blocking effect of two daily subcutaneous injections of a high dose of dexamethasone persisted for about one week after the last injection. The sensitivity of the plasma corticoid response was essentially the same in hypophysectomized and dexamethasone blocked rats. The lower part of the log dose response curve was found to be clearly non-linear in the plasma corticoid method following intravenous corticotrophin injection. As a consequence the dose level in quantitative assays of intravenously injected corticotrophin are, in our hands, of the same order as in the adrenal ascorbic acid depletion method.

Theory is for everybody

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Athena Elafros
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Bell Hooks ◽  
Concrete Reality

In Feminism is for Everybody, bell hooks states, “[t]o be truly visionary we have to root our imagination in our concrete reality while simultaneously imagining possibilities beyond that reality” (hooks, 2000, p. 110). Drawing on this insight, I offer one possible future for teaching theory in sociology based on my own subject position and experiences that seeks to imagine how social theory needs to change regarding a fundamental reorganization of what counts as theory, who counts as a theorist, who teaches theory, and how theory is taught.

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