Existential constructions. An investigation into the Italo-Romance dialects.

我们的项目基于日益脆弱的意大利-罗曼语系提供的新证据，对一种多层面的语言现象(存在结构)进行了深入分析。存在句(例如，‘门口有个学生’)长期以来一直吸引着所有理论观点的语言学家。现有的大部分文献都集中在确定性效应(DES)上，即对主要参与者(在上面提供的例子中是“学生”)的限制。在许多语言中，这只能在严格的条件下在语法上明确(例如，由‘the’引入)。这方面的一个例子是英语中的There‘s the Student结构，没有重音的There才是语法上的，如果该学生是一个列表的成员，可能是唯一的一个。我们的项目为DES提供了新的线索，同时也揭示了到目前为止被忽视的存在结构的特征。基于Stanford-Berkeley Existentials Group的工作，我们检验了这样一种假设，即DES源于参与者缺乏作为规范主语的语法编码所需的语义和语用属性。我们在撒丁岛(Bentley 2009a，b)上的工作表明，话题性、可识别性、特异性和生命性都是这样的属性。如果事件的唯一参与者不是主题，即它以前没有被提及并且不能被认为是理所当然的，并且缺乏一个或多个其他特征，则它不太可能被编码为主语。相反，它将出现在存在主义结构中。虽然从跨语言的角度来看，规范主语的性质解释了非规范主语的性质，但非典型主语的表现却因主语的特殊处理方式而有所不同(句法位置、动词、格上的相互参照或一致)。意大利-罗曼斯方言为检验我们的假设提供了一个理想的基础，因为它们对主语表现出一系列不同的限制。我们将分析DES在这些方言中的传播情况，以及它们如何与该主题的语言特殊处理相关联。我们还将进一步调查DES的基本原理，以及这与对该主题的语义和语用限制进行比较的情况。上述方言还提供了证据，表明存在词的一些显著特征尚未得到应有的重视。尤其是英语中的be(源自拉丁语Esse/stare或habere)和here(ci，vi，ghe，n(D)e，(N)ke，ddoi...)可以是中性的，也可以是满意的(例如，指示语，表示地点，或证据，表示传闻)。对这些形式的研究有助于加深对存现结构中形式/功能界面的理解。为了收集我们的证据，我们将在意大利进行广泛的实地调查，听取向我们提供支持的国际专家组的建议。我们的目标既是经验的(创建一个意大利-罗曼斯存在结构的图集)，也是理论的(揭示存在句中的话语-语义-形态句法界面)。我们的项目也在学术研究社区之外产生了影响，因为它涉及到材料的创建(包括一张带有儿童故事集的DVD)，这些材料将在英国和意大利用于教学和其他文化目的。通过我们的研究，我们为保护方言文化做出了贡献。我们的研究是及时的，原因有两个：一方面，我们的发现既受益于其他研究团队的结果，也提供给他们的结果，这些研究团队目前正在研究意大利语-罗曼语以外的语系中的存在语。另一方面，我们的项目是全球研究界更广泛的努力的一部分，目的是在语言研究最终消失之前了解一个独特的语言家族，这些语言对语言研究有如此多的贡献。

Our project provides an in-depth analysis of a multifaceted linguistic phenomenon (existential constructions) based on the novel evidence offered by an increasingly vulnerable language family, Italo-Romance. Existential constructions (e.g., 'there's a student at the door') have long fascinated linguists of all theoretical persuasions. The bulk of the existing literature has focused on the Definiteness Effects (DEs), i.e., the restrictions on the principal participant ('a student', in the example provided above). In many languages, this can only be grammatically definite (e.g., introduced by 'the') under strict conditions. An example of this is the English structure 'there's the student', with unstressed 'there', which is only grammatical if 'the student' is intended as a member of a list, possibly the only one. Our project sheds new light on the DEs while also uncovering features of existential constructions which have so far been neglected. Building upon the work of the Stanford-Berkeley Existentials Group, we test the hypothesis that the DEs derive from the tendency for the participant to lack semantic and pragmatic properties which warrant the grammatical encoding as a canonical subject. Our work on Sardinian (Bentley 2009a,b) indicates that topicality, identifiability, specificity and animacy are such properties. If the only participant of an event is not topical, i.e., it has not been mentioned before and cannot be taken for granted, and lacks one or more of the other features, it is unlikely to be encoded as a subject. Rather, it will figure in an existential structure. Whereas cross-linguistically the DEs are explained by the properties of canonical subjects, the manifestations of the DEs vary in accordance with the language-particular treatment of subjects (position in syntax, cross-referencing or agreement on the verb, case...).The Italo-Romance dialects offer an ideal basis to test our hypotheses, since they display a range of different constraints on the subject. We shall analyse the spread of the DEs among these dialects, and how they correlate with the language-particular treatment of the subject. We shall also investigate further the rationale of the DEs and how this compares with the semantic and pragmatic restrictions on the subject. The said dialects also offer evidence which suggests that there are significant features of existentials which have not yet received the due attention. In particular, the counterparts of English 'be' (from Latin ESSE/STARE or HABERE) and 'there' (ci, vi, ghe, n(d)e, (n)ke, ddoi...) can be neutral or contentful (e.g., deictic, indicating location, or evidential, indicating hearsay). The investigation of these forms will enhance the current understanding of the form/function interface in existential structures. To collect our evidence we shall conduct extensive fieldwork in Italy, availing ourselves of the advice of an international pool of experts who have offered us their support. Our objectives are both empirical (to create an atlas of the existential constructions of Italo-Romance) and theoretical (to shed new light on the discourse-semantics-morphosyntax interface in existentials). Our project also has an impact outside the academic research community, in that it involves the creation of materials (including a DVD with a collection of children's stories) which will be used for didactic and other cultural purposes both in the UK and in Italy. With our research we thus contribute to the preservation of dialect culture.Our research is timely on two accounts: on the one hand, our findings both benefit from and feed into the results of other research teams who are currently studying existentials in language families other than Italo-Romance. On the other hand, our project is part of a much more extensive undertaking by the global research community to understand a unique family of languages which have so much to contribute to linguistic research before they are finally lost.