Present Day English Existential There-Constructions and Their Pragmatics. Towards an Integrated Categorisation
ISSN: 1137-6368
Ano de publicación: 2001
Título do exemplar: Language and Lingüistics
Número: 23
Páxinas: 29-56
Tipo: Artigo
Outras publicacións en: Miscelánea: A journal of english and american studies
Resumo
This paper presents the pragmatics of there-constructions (henceforth TCs) as its main object of analysis. It seeks to provide the labels for a possible classification of TCs according to their communicative roles in their contexts of occurrence. A basic distinction is made between prospective and retrospective functions of TCs, whose most basic function is seen as helping on the informational progress and development of the text. A total of ten labels are here proposed for as many pragmatic roles. Although it is not definitive or fully developed, but open to reformulation and further research, the typology proposed may be the basis for an effective methodology. It is hoped that it deals with an aspect of TCs that seems to have received less attention than deserved.