FOCUS AND THE BASIC FUNCTION OF CHINESE EXISTENTIAL YOU-SENTENCES

In this paper we use data from the Chinese existential you-construction, the closest counterpart to the English there-construction, to show that the existential construction can be used to mark not only a new entity, but also a new relation. When it marks a new relation, the referent of the postverbal NP is not required to be a new entity. Based upon the relevant facts in Chinese you-sentences, we claim that the basic function of Chinese existential you-sentences is to introduce new information into the discourse; the new information can be either a new entity or a new relation, and the so-called Definiteness Effect (DE) is only a by-product of the discourse function of the existential construction.