Presentative (linguistics)

A '''presentative''', or '''presentational''',<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia| last = Matthews| first = P. H.| date = 2014| chapter = presentational| title = The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0-19-967512-8}}</ref> is a word or a syntactic structure which presents, or introduces, an entity, bringing it to the attention of the addressee. Typically, the entity thus introduced will serve as the topic of the subsequent discourse. For example, the construction with ''there'' in the following English sentence is a presentative:

{{spaces|2|em}}''There appeared a cat on the window sill.''

In French, one of the major uses of the words {{Lang|fr|voici}} and {{Lang|fr|voilà}} is presentative, as in the following example:

{{interlinear|indent=2|lang = fr |Voici le sceau de Charlemagne. |{{gcl|PRESTT|presentative}} DEF seal GEN Charlemagne |'This is the seal of Charlemagne.'<ref>{{Cite journal| last = Porhiel| first = Sylvie| date = 2012| title = The presentative voici/voilà – Towards a pragmatic definition| journal = Journal of Pragmatics| volume = 44| issue = 4| pages = 435–452| issn = 0378-2166| doi = 10.1016/j.pragma.2012.01.001}}</ref>}}

However, the most common presentative in French is the {{Lang|fr|(il) y a}} formula (from the verb {{Lang|fr|avoir}} {{Gloss|have}}), as in the following sentence:

{{interlinear|indent=2|lang = fr |ya un policier qui arrive. |{{gcl|PRESTT|presentative}} a policeman REL arrives |'There is a policeman who arrives.' <ref>{{cite book |last=Lena |first=Ludovica |editor-last1=Ryan J.|editor-first1= Crostwaite P.|title=Referring in a Second Language. Studies on Reference to Person in a Multilingual World |publisher=Routledge |date=2020 |chapter=Referent introducing strategies in advanced L2 usage: a bi-directional study on French learners of Chinese and Chinese learners of French |doi=10.4324/9780429263972-9 |chapter-url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429263972/chapters/10.4324/9780429263972-9/ | isbn=978-0-429-2639-72 |s2cid=216254718 }}</ref> }}

Similarly to French {{Lang|fr|il y a}}, in Chinese the existential verb {{Lang|zh-latn|yǒu}} {{Gloss|have}} is often used as a presentative to introduce new entities into discourse:

{{interlinear | indent = 2 | lang = zh|Kàn! Yǒu rén tōu nǐde miànbāo!.|Look {{gcl|PRESTT|presentative}} people steal your bread.|'Look! There’s someone [who] stole your bread!.' {{sfn|Lena|2020|loc=p. 178, ex. 2}} }}

In Maybrat, a likely language isolate of West Papua, there is a dedicated presentative prefix {{Lang|ayz|me-}} which combines with demonstratives. It contrasts with other prefixes like {{Lang|ayz|pe-}} (forming adverbs, {{Gloss|there}}) or {{Lang|ayz|re-}} and {{Lang|ayz|we-}} (for attributives, {{Gloss|''this'' man}}). This contrast is illustrated in the following three examples with the demonstrative {{Lang|ayz|-to}}, which is used for non-masculine referents close to the speaker:<ref>{{Cite book| last = Dol| first = Philomena Hedwig| date = 2007| title = A grammar of Maybrat : a language of the Bird's Head Peninsula, Papua province, Indonesia| series = Pacific Linguistics| publisher = Australian National University| location = Canberra| isbn = 978-0-85883-573-3|pages=103–4}} The glosses here have been simplified.</ref>

{{interlinear | lang = ayz | indent = 2 | c1 = (presentative)|m-ama me-to|{{gcl|U|unmarked gender}}-come {{gcl|PRESTT|presentative}}-DEM|'Here she comes.'{{sfn|Dol|2007|loc=p. 103, ex. 230}} }}

{{interlinear | lang = ayz | indent = 2 | c1 = (adverbial)|y-tien pe-to|he-sleep area.{{gcl|ADV|adverbial}}-DEM|'He sleeps near here.'{{sfn|Dol|2007|loc=p. 99, ex. 208b}} }}

{{interlinear | lang = ayz | indent = 2 | c1 = (attributive)|fai re-to|woman {{gcl|SPEC|specific}}-DEM|'this woman'{{sfn|Dol|2007|loc=p. 99, ex. 206a}} }}

Special word order configurations can also be used to introduce foregrounded entities into discourse, that is, to realise a presentational function. This is the case of inverted sentences, where the subject of SV(O) languages appears in post-verbal position. In the following spoken Chinese sentence, the agent of the motion verb {{Lang|zh-latn|lái}} {{Gloss|come}}, which usually occupies the preverbal position, occurs after the verb because it denotes a discourse-new entity:

{{interlinear | indent = 2 | lang = zh|Nèi tiān túránjiān ne, lái-le hǎoxiē-ge fēijī.|That day suddenly {{gcl|PAUS|pause}} come-{{gcl|PFV |perfective}} quite.a.few-{{gcl|CL|classifier}} airplane.|{{lit|Suddenly that day, came quite a few airplanes.}} {{sfn|Lena|2020|loc=ex. 21}} }}

A subtype of inverted sentence is called locative inversion, since in many languages the preverbal position is filled with a locative expression. English, especially written English, has this kind of structure:

{{spaces|2|em}}''In a little white house lived two rabbits.''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Birner |first1=Betty Jean |title=Information status and word order: an analysis of English inversion |journal=Language |date=1994 |volume=2 |issue=70 |pages=233–259|doi=10.2307/415828 |jstor=415828 }}</ref>

{{spaces|2|em}}''In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tolkien |first1=J. R. R. |title=The Hobbit, or There and Back Again}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

Category:Syntactic entities