کد مقاله | کد نشریه | سال انتشار | مقاله انگلیسی | نسخه تمام متن |
---|---|---|---|---|
935454 | 923880 | 2011 | 43 صفحه PDF | دانلود رایگان |
The existential construction with the predicate –isy in Malagasy is shown to have an unaccusative structure in which the predicate may take either (i) a DP-complement, with an optional locative adjunct and an optional PP or (ii) an IP-complement. The structure is empirically supported by various facts about adverb placement, coordination, word-order, extraction, certain cases of tense-matching between –isy and a following thematic predicate, as well as the lack of the stage-level vs individual-level predicate distinction in the construction. It is argued that the predicate –isy introduces an existential quantifier binding (i) a variable that certain DPs or the locative phrase can in principle provide or (ii) the event or unprojected arguments of a thematic predicate. The definiteness effect arises from existential quantification interacting with the structure of headless relative clauses and the constraint barring strong quantifiers in predicate position.
► The predicate of existence takes either a DP-complement or an IP-complement.
► The syntactic structure is supported by independent diagnostics for constituency and extraction.
► The existential interpretation arises from unselective binding of a variable.
► The definiteness effect arises from unselective binding interacting with the distribution of strong quantifiers.
Journal: Lingua - Volume 121, Issue 10, August 2011, Pages 1588–1630