英语存现句的认知理据分析

English Existential Construction:A Cognitive Approach

生成句法理论把英语存现句中的THERE看作虚主语,这个前提是可疑的。通过建立测试标准和多方论证,我们认为,英语存现句中的THERE不是虚主语,而是虚状语,是虚语类范畴中一个不可或缺的成员。本文首先对英语存现句的句式意义进行了细致分析和阐述,继而从认知的角度分析了英语存现句得以形成的内部理据和外部动因,指出THERE位于存现句句首起初是为了替代倒装结构中的处所短语PP,这导致了英语存现句的最终形成。THERE是英语存现句的标记,在有方位词组出现的情况下,THERE与该方位词组是同标共指成分;在没有方位词组出现的情况下,THERE与一个隐性的方位词组同标共指。

It is quite dubious that the T-G grammarians consider THERE as an expletive in English existential construction. The authors of this paper propose a yardstick to test it and arrive at the conclusion that THERE in the existential construction of English is actually a dummy locative, an indispensable element of dummy categories. This paper analyses the inner and outer motivations of the existential construction, pointing out that the reason for the word THERE to be in the first position of an existential construction is that THERE substitutes the locative PP in the inverted English sentences. The word THERE is a mark in English existential construction. When there is a locative expression, THERE and the locative are co-indexed ele- ments; when there is no locative, THERE co-indexes with a covert locative.