A functional study of event-existentials in Modern Chinese

Abstract

It is held that existentials in Chinese express the existence of things rather than events. We propose the term event-existential, in contrast to thing-existentials, to capture those clauses whose existents are obviously events. These include the so-called pseudo-existentials, clauses with the possessor as subject and the possessed as object, (dis)appearance existentials, etc. Though the two types of existentials are both composed of "NG^sub L^ ^ VG ^ NG", the syntax is different. In thing-existentials, the clause-final NG constitutes the existent, whose existence is expressed through the configuration of the three elements as such. In event-existentials, the configuration of "VG ^ NG" expresses the event, whose existence is then asserted through its alignment with the clause-initial NG^sub L^. Apart from existence, event-existentials show the semantic features of eventuality, impersonality, and ergativity. The two types of existentials form a continuum, each occupying a pole and relating to the other through different degrees of thingness/eventuality, i.e., different degrees of prominence of the clause-final NG and the clause-middle VG and of the integration of the two.