English presentative sentences with have
Vědecký článek
Permanent link
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/108977Identifiers
ISSN: 1805–9635
Collections
- Číslo 2 [10]
Issue Date
2019Publisher
Univerzita Karlova, Filozofická fakultaSource
Linguistica Pragensia, 2019, 29, 2, 160-177Source URL
https://linguisticapragensia.ff.cuni.czKeywords (Czech)
Presentation Scale, locative subject, have-presentative sentences, verbs of existence and appearance
The paper explores the potential of English sentences with the verb have to constitute the Presentation Scale. Have-presentative sentences, in which the verb is devoid of its possessive meaning, can
be viewed as an alternative to the “full presentative” there-constructions. Both constructions contain
an indefinite noun phrase presenting new information, and they share the communicative function
of introducing a new referent into discourse, cf. We have a long trip ahead of us vs. There’s a long trip
ahead of us.
Presentative sentences with have are described and classified with respect to the animacy, semantics and reference of the subject, the presence of a locative adverbial, and the semantics of the object.