Existence: Semantics and Syntax

This collection is an important contribution to the semantic and syntactic analysis of the expression of existence. The focus is on the three main linguistic constructions expressing existence: copular clauses, existential sentences, and (in)definiteness.

This collection of essays grew out of the workshop 'Existence: Semantics and Syntax', which was held at the University of Nancy 2 in September 2002. The workshop, organized by Ileana Comorovski and Claire Gardent, was supported by a grant from the Reseau ´ de Sciences Cognitives du Grand Est ('Cognitive Science Network of the Greater East'), which is gratefully acknowledged. The ?rst e- tor wishes to thank Claire Gardent, Fred Landman, and Georges Rebuschi for encouraging her to pursue the publication of a volume based on papers presented at the workshop. Among those who participated in the workshop was Klaus von Heusinger, who joined Ileana Comorovski in editing this volume. Besides papers that developed out of presentations at the workshop, the volume contains invited contributions. We are grateful to Wayles Browne, Fred Landman, Paul Portner, and Georges Rebuschi for their help with reviewing some of the papers. Our thanks go also to a Springer reviewer for the careful reading of the book manuscript. We wish to thank all the participants in the workshop, not only those whose contributions appear in this volume, for making the workshop an int- active and constructive event. Ileana Comorovski Klaus von Heusinger vii ILEANA COMOROVSKI AND KLAUS VON HEUSINGER INTRODUCTION The notion of 'existence', which we take to have solid intuitive grounding, plays a central role in the interpretation of at least three types of linguistic constructions: copular clauses, existential sentences, and (in)de?nite noun phrases.

Considers the three main aspects of the linguistic expression of existence: copular clauses, existential sentences, and (in)definiteness Offers a crosslinguistic perspective on the linguistic expression of existence Presents a richness of new data Uses state-of-the-art theoretical approaches Analyzes the interaction between the basic notion of existence and pervasive phenomena of natural languages, such as quantification and presupposition

Contenu
The Interpretation of the Copula.- Towards a Dynamic Account of BE in English.- Constituent Questions and the Copula of Specification.- Predication and Equation in Copular Sentences: Russian vs. English.- On Davidsonian and Kimian States.- Existential Sentences Across Languages.- Focus and the Basic Function of Chinese Existential You-Sentences.- Existential Sentences, BE, and the Genitive of Negation in Russian.- Negative Quantification and Existential Sentences.- Existence and the Interpretation of Noun Phrases.- Existence, Maximality, and the Semantics of Numeral Modifiers.- Existential Import.- Referentially Anchored Indefinites.- On Singular Existential Quantifiers in Italian.