Entity- vs. event-existentials: A new typology

Abstract

ABSTRACT Different classifications of existential clauses (ECs) have been proposed in the literature, including structural classifications, classifications according to the source construction and classifications according to the functions performed by ECs. However, no serious attempt has been made to typologize ECs according to the semantic nature of the most essential element of the construction, i.e. the existent. In this regard, this study recognizes two types of existentials: entity- and event-existentials. The latter is a much-ignored category, though it is an important one that has implications for some of the controversial issues in the literature. For example, it can be correlated to the controversy over the NP analysis or the small clause analysis of the coda. It is argued that these two analyses are not alternatives to each other; rather they are suited to the two types of ECs respectively, i.e. the NP analysis to entity-existentials and the small clause analysis to event-existentials. Further, it is shown that this new typology also has relevance for the two semantic restrictions on ECs, i.e. the definiteness effect mainly concerns entity-existentials, and the predication restriction event-existentials.