Existential constructions in crosslinguistic perspective

Abstract

Following a tradition which is well established in the semantic literature, we use the term pivot to refer to the noun phrase which, in English existentials, occurs in immediately post-copular position. The pivot can be followed by a coda, i.e., an addition, for example a locative phrase. The existential constructions of some languages also exhibit a putatively adverbial form, which can be etymologically locative. This is referred to here as the proform. Only the pivot is universally available, and obligatory, in existential constructions. The other components of the construction may not be present. In (2) we provide examples of existentials in English, Italian, French and Spanish. Observe that the Spanish existential copula exhibits a lexicalized postcopular proform (2d).

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