Gradience of Existential Clauses Based on Prosodic Structure
Wang Chen-lin · Journal of Henan University of Science & Technology · 2015
Existential clauses, including existential construction and the construction of appearance and disappearance,consist of the locative element,the process and the existent,which embodies the existential sense. The existential sense presents the hierarchical relationship in different types of existential clauses. By the prosodic structure in Hallidayian Functional Grammar,the research indicates that the existential clauses with the verb YOUis the prototype,but as to the existential clauses without verb,the existential sense is embodied by the conceptual sense in the clause structure,which is the least prototype of existential clauses.Between them,there are existential clauses with the verb SHI,the existential clauses with the actional verbs and the construction of appearance and disappearance,which form the hierarchical relationship.