Copular constructions, existentials and related phenomena. An introduction

Abstract

Existential constructions (ECs) represent an important and ‘ever-green’ area of research, as the definition of their properties and the explanation of their related effects still remain controversial in the literature. Furthermore, given the relevance and interface extent of the phenomena connected to ECs, a modular investigation can shed new light on the functioning of natural language (including cognitive aspects), as well as on the nature of predication and the information-structural (IS) quality of marked constructions. This is exactly the objective of the discussion raised by the papers included in this Special Issue of The Linguistic Review. In this respect, among the themes dealt with in the present volume major questions can be listed as follows: – What determines the so-called Definiteness Effect (DE) (a restriction on the acceptability of definite DPs in the post-copular position of existential sentences), its impact and consistency across and within languages? Can this phenomenon be treated as (uniquely) determined by the presence of there? – What is the relationship (if any) between EC formulas and possessive structures across and within languages (e.g. the alternation between there beand have-sentences in English)? – Does the root/non-root distinction play a role in the definition of EC’s related phenomena? – What properties and functions (if any) distinguish existential from locative predications? And, in case, why, and to what extent do languages differ in the encoding of their meanings? – To what extent are ECs related to other (copular) structures, possibly sharing features at different levels of analysis, crossand intra-linguistically? – Finally, how and to what extent are ECs connected with discourse-related IS phenomena?