Publications

Publication details [#11960]

Abbott, Barbara. 1997. Definiteness and Existentials. Language 73 (1) : 103–108. 6 pp.

Publication type

Article in journal

Publication language

English

Keywords

existential presupposition | given vs. new information | noun phrase

Language as a subject

English

Person as a subject

Birner, B. | Prince, E. | Ward, G.

Place, Publisher

Linguistic Society of America

ISBN

0097-8507

Annotation

On the function of postverbal noun phrases in English existential THERE-sentences. The author claims that such sentences are not always new to the hearer, but they can be used to acknowledge the existence of an entity in discourse.