Re: Odd construct

I think the 'there is' in English is idiomatic.  Other languages use a
different verb or a completely different construct.  Spanish uses "hay," a
form of "haber," to have.  French uses "il y a" (it has to it), another
idiomatic construction.  Hebrew uses "yish," for positive existential
statements, and "ain" for negative ones (and uses these with prepositions
to denote having -- "yish sus li," "There is a horse to me -- I have a
horse".

On Thu, 11 Oct 2001, Matthew Pearson wrote:

> --- Andrew Chaney wrote:
> > If I say spomething along the lines of "There are butterflies", what is
> > the subject of the sentence?  I've heard it has none.  How does this
> > work?
>
> I've always read that (and phrases like it) as an inversion of "Butterflies
> are there".  Likewise "There's a book on the table" -> "A book is there on
> the table".
> --- end of quote ---
>
> This doesn't always work, though. "There is a butterfly here on the table" is
> fine, but *"A butterfly is there here on the table" is awful. The "there"
> which introduces existential constructions is clearly different from the
> "there" which means "to/at that place".
>
> The problem with existential constructions is that the normal properties
> associated with subjects seem to be split between two entities, the "there"
> (known in the literature as an 'expletive' or 'dummy' element) and the
> indefinite noun phrase following the verb "be" (known as the 'associate' of
> the expletive). The associate triggers agreement ("is/was" vs. "are/were"),
> while the expletive occupies the normal position for subjects (before the
> auxiliary in statements, and immediately after the auxiliary in questions).
> There doesn't seem to be any straightforward solution to this dilemma, as far
> as identifying which element--the expletive or the associate--is the 'real'
> subject. Different linguistics theories opt for different solutions.
>
> Matt.
>
> Matt Pearson
> Department of Linguistics
> Reed College
> 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd
> Portland, OR 97202 USA
> ph:  503-771-1112 (x 7618)
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prurio modo viri qui in arbore pilosa est.
                        ~~Elvis

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~