Part of
Essays on Nominal Determination: From morphology to discourse managementEdited by Henrik Høeg Müller and Alex Klinge
[Studies in Language Companion Series 99] 2008
► pp. 131–162
Edited by Henrik Høeg Müller and Alex Klinge
[Studies in Language Companion Series 99] 2008
► pp. 131–162
Definiteness effect and the role of the coda in existential constructions
The Definiteness Effect (DE) in existential contexts appears as a robust constraint in some languages (Spanish) while it seems to be absent in others (Italian, Catalan). However, a closer inspection of Italian and Catalan data shows that the DE has some presence in those languages as well, when the coda of the existential is explicit and occurs inside the VP. This paper investigates the effects produced by the coda on definiteness, and connects such effects to other constraints on the licensing of postverbal subjects, all ultimately tied to nformation structure. I suggest that a classbetween definiteness and Focus structure is at the origin of the DE, when definite expressions resist insertion into pure thetic or Broad Focus sentences.
Cited by (30)
Cited by 30 other publications
AGULLÓ, JORGE
2024. El efecto de definitud en variedades del español en contacto con catalán: nuevos datos dialectales. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 101:9 ► pp. 815 ff. 
Margaza, Panagiota & Anna Gavarró
2024. Subject position and verb class in L2 Greek and L2 Spanish. Second Language Research 40:3 ► pp. 591 ff.
Carlier, Anne & Karen Lahousse
2023. Chapter 5. Presentational clefts, existentials and information structure. In Existential Constructions across Languages [Human Cognitive Processing, 76], ► pp. 139 ff.
Sarda, Laure & Ludovica Lena
2023. Chapter 1. Existential constructions. In Existential Constructions across Languages [Human Cognitive Processing, 76], ► pp. 1 ff.
Chen, Qiaoyun
2022. English and Chinese existential constructions in contrast: A corpus-based semantic study. Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 58:4 ► pp. 717 ff.
Kuo, Pei-Jung
2022. Contextualized Existential Constructions in Mandarin Chinese. Lanaguage Research 58:3 ► pp. 177 ff.
Lena, Ludovica
2022. An Unbridgeable Gap? The Treatment of Definiteness Restrictions in French and Chinese Presentational Constructions. Discours :31
Lena, Ludovica
2023. The (Non-)acquisition of the Chinese Definiteness Effect: A Usage-Based Account. In Learner Corpora: Construction and Explorations in Chinese and Related Languages [Chinese Language Learning Sciences, ], ► pp. 257 ff.
Lena, Ludovica
2024. Encoding indefinite human reference without indefinite pronouns: the case of Chinese presentationals. Folia Linguistica 58:3 ► pp. 659 ff.
Meulleman, Machteld, Laure Sarda, F. Neveu, S. Prévost, A. Steuckardt, G. Bergounioux & B. Hamma
2022. De l’usage existentiel des verbes de perception. SHS Web of Conferences 138 ► pp. 11002 ff.
Schultze-Berndt, Eva
2022. When subjects frame the clause: discontinuous noun phrases as an iconic strategy for marking thetic constructions. Linguistics 60:3 ► pp. 865 ff.
van der Wal, Jenneke
2022. A Featural Typology of Bantu Agreement,
Budzisch, Josefina
2021. [Studiauralo-altaica, 54], ► pp. 1 ff.
Wang, Yong
2021. Entity- vs. event-existentials: A new typology. Australian Journal of Linguistics 41:2 ► pp. 195 ff.
Halevy, Rivka
2020. The existential construction and its type‑shifting instances in colloquial Modern Hebrew. In La Prédication existentielle dans les langues naturelles : valeurs et repérages, structures et modalités, ► pp. 83 ff.
Halevy, Rivka
2020. Chapter 15. Impersonal and pseudo-impersonal constructions. In Usage-Based Studies in Modern Hebrew [Studies in Language Companion Series, 210], ► pp. 539 ff.
Halevy, Rivka
2023. Non-subject oriented existential, possessive and dative-experiencer constructions in Modern Hebrew – a cross-linguistic typological approach. STUF - Language Typology and Universals 76:4 ► pp. 545 ff.
Cruschina, Silvio, Adam Ledgeway & Eva-Maria Remberger
2019. The dialects of Italy at the interfaces. In Italian Dialectology at the Interfaces [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 251], ► pp. 1 ff.
Cruschina, Silvio
Abraham, Werner
2017. Chapter 6. Modal particles and Verum focus. In Pragmatic Markers, Discourse Markers and Modal Particles [Studies in Language Companion Series, 186], ► pp. 171 ff.
Abraham, Werner
2020. Modality in Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics,
KARSSENBERG, LENA
2017. Frenchil y aclefts, existential sentences and the Focus-Marking Hypothesis. Journal of French Language Studies 27:3 ► pp. 405 ff.
Müller, Henrik Høeg
2017. Bare nouns in Danish with special reference to the object position. Nordic Journal of Linguistics 40:1 ► pp. 37 ff.
Bentley, Delia, Francesco Maria Ciconte & Silvio Cruschina
2015. Existentials and Locatives in Romance Dialects of Italy,
Perpiñán, Silvia
2014. Locatives and existentials in L2 Spanish: The acquisition of the semantic contrasts among ser, estar and haber. Second Language Research 30:4 ► pp. 485 ff.
Jiménez‐Fernández, Ángel L. & Vassilios Spyropoulos
2013. Feature Inheritance, vP Phases and the Information Structure of Small Clauses. Studia Linguistica 67:2 ► pp. 185 ff.
Crisma, Paola
2012. Quantifiers in Italian. In Handbook of Quantifiers in Natural Language [Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy, 90], ► pp. 467 ff.
White, Lydia, Alyona Belikova, Paul Hagstrom, Tanja Kupisch & Öner Özçelik
2012.
Restrictions on definiteness in
second language acquisition. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 2:1 ► pp. 54 ff.
Ciconte, Francesco Maria
2011. The emergence and the reanalysis of the existential proform: evidence from early Italo‐Romance. Transactions of the Philological Society 109:3 ► pp. 284 ff.
[no author supplied]
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 november 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.