2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Diachronic Studies in there-construction
| Project/Area Number |
26370571
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
English linguistics
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| Research Institution | Seitoku University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
|
| Keywords | there 構文 / 形式主語 / there の機能 / there の挿入 / 前置詞句 / 意味上の主語 / 指示詞 |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
The result of this study is that we were able to clarify the motivation of "there" behind its use and function as a formal subject as well as the period and the process of the establishment of "there-construction." The construction like "There is a tower in Tokyo," which indicates the existence of someone or something, started in the form of "In Tokyo is a tower," then "there" was inserted instead of the prepositional phrase which was unbable to be a subject, as in "In Tokyo there is a tower," by the end of the 14th century, and finally, the construction was complete by the middle of the 15th century after the prepositional phrase moved behind the logical subject. The reason for "there" as a formal subject is due to the fact that "there" is derived from the demonstrative "tha" (=that) + "-r" (adverbial ending) and retains its original function, as "there" in "thereafter" (=after that) and "therefore" (=because of it) does.
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| Free Research Field |
英語史
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