Existential constructions : In search of a definition
Résumé
Since the first formulation by Jespersen, the existential construction has never
ceased to interest linguists, who have offered an increasingly fine-grained picture
of its properties. The contributions to this volume shed new light on various
facets of existential constructions, from a multiplicity of angles and methodological
approaches. The semantic relations between existence, possession and location
are traced back to the origins of the construction. The polyfunctionality of
existential and related constructions, and the semantic differences between several
competing constructions are depicted in a contrastive or diachronic way.
The constraints on arguments of the construction, their quantification and definiteness
restrictions are studied in relation to the presence of a locative and the
information-structure properties of existentials. The final point of interest is the
negation of existence, and the linguistic paradox contained in the very fact of
asserting the non-existence of something.
Despite the variety of approaches, the contributors to this volume investigate
the existential (and related) constructions from a functional perspective, by measuring
them against other constructions available within a particular language, by adopting a constrastive approach between two or more languages, by considering
the information structure properties of these constructions and by relying on different
sources of corpus data, that is, studying the use of existentials in actual contexts.
Although the existential construction has been defined by its non-canonical
morphosyntax, sentences following a canonical word order are also studied in this
volume and their existential function is discussed.
In over a century of studies on the prototypical existential construction, we
have gained a deep understanding of its structural manifestations across languages
and of its semantic and pragmatic properties. Future investigations could
usefully focus on the functional relation between central and peripheral existential
constructions, and between specialized and non-specialized existential constructions,
both within the same language and across languages.
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