三种特殊There-be结构中的确指限制

Definiteness restriction in three particular there-be constructions

There-be存在句中的确指限制要求be后的名词组不能是确指性名词。然而这一规则在类别式存在句、列举式存在句和部分式存在句这三种特殊的There-be结构中受到了挑战。通过对这三类存在句的探究,发现受话者新信息理论能够解释这一语言现象。

Definiteness Restriction （DR） requires that definite NPs be grammatically and categorically excluded from there-be existential construction. However, the rule is challenged in three particular there-be constructions： kind existential, list existential and partitive existential. The causes of DR are then explored, and based on it, the paper makes a further discussion over the above three constructions.