Content area
Full Text
Nat Lang Linguist Theory (2009) 27: 721735 DOI 10.1007/s11049-009-9080-6
O R I G I NA L PA P E R
Existential sentences in Tagalog: commentary on the paper by Joseph Sabbagh
Edward L. Keenan
Published online: 27 October 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009
Abstract In his article in this volume, Joseph Sabbagh treats existential there sentences (henceforth, ET sentences) as a type of structure whose expression in different languages may vary. Taking the rst step in constructing a typology of ET sentences, he claims that ET sentences in the Western Austronesian language Tagalog are built from an unaccusative predicate, whereas ET sentences in English, according to the proposals he cites, are constructed from small clauses. Both analyses have also been proposed for ET sentences in other Western Austronesian languages. For instance, in Malagasy, a Western Austronesian language spoken in Madagascar, Pearson (1996) and Paul (2000) defend a small clause analysis of ET sentences, whereas Polinsky (2008) argues persuasively for an analysis involving an unaccusative predicate. At various points in this commentary, I try to push the typology of ET further by suggesting possible typological correlates of their form.
Keywords Existential Pivot Small clause Unaccusative predicate Tagalog
Malagasy
Sabbagh shows that ET sentences in Tagalog consist of an existential predicate followed by the pivot nominal, and then by a coda, which is realized as a locative phrase or a relative clause. The pivot denotes the objects whose existence is asserted or denied by the existential predicate. The coda determines a property that holds of the objects denoted by the pivot. In the Tagalog example (1a),1 may is the existential
1The Tagalog examples not attributed to any source are from Sabbaghs article; those marked ND are from my consultant work with Nenita Domingo.
Many thanks to Nenita Domingo for judgments and sophisticated discussion.
E.L. Keenan ( )
Department of Linguistics, UCLA, 3125 Campbell Hall, Box 951543, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543, USAe-mail: mailto:[email protected]
Web End [email protected]
722 E.L. Keenan
predicate, aso dog (or tatlong aso three dogs) is the pivot, and sa bahay, the locative form of house, is the coda:
(1) a. May aso / tatlo-ng aso sa bahay. ND exist dog / three-L dog LOC houseThere is a dog / are three dogs in the...