主语小议

A Discussion of the Notion of Subject

从功能的角度讨论英语的主语问题。从主语的定义开始,介绍了包括马泰休斯、韩礼德、菲尔墨等的语言学家对主语从不同角度的分析;并提出了形式和功能的问题加以讨论;关于there结构中的there的主语性问题,主要介绍了莱可夫的语义分析和结构分析,以及there的省略问题;最后得出结论,there的省略要全方位考虑。

The concept of subject is basic to the Western tradition of grammatical analysis. Discussions around the notion never stop. An attempt has made first to distinguish three levels of subject, namely psychological, grammatical and logical subject. Then there is an introduction of several basic views on subject of different approaches by Mathesius, Halliday and Fillmore. The form and function of subject in English has also been dealt with here before a discussion is made on the subjecthood of there construction, and omission of there in the construction, mainly focusing on Lakoff＇s semantic differentiation of two kinds of there construction. A conclusion has finally been reached that the omission of there must be considered structurally and semantically.