スイス式標準ドイツ語非人称存在表現の諸相 : es hat と es gibt の対立をめぐって

Abstract

This research aims to clarify the semantic and pragmatic uses of impersonal existentials in Swiss High German, especially es hat and gibt + [accusative nominal](Eng.it has or it gives + [acc.]) existentials. In Section 2, the significance of the research on the impersonal existentials in Swiss High German is discussed. In Section 3, the various examples of the impersonal existentials from the corpora (COSMASII, CHTK, etc.) are examined in terms of adverbials and accusative nominals. In Section 4, the distinction of the uses between es hat and es gibt existentials is considered through the questionnaire carried out in Zurich, Switzerland. Section 5 discusses the results of the examination of examples from the corpora and considers the different pragmatic use of es hat and es gibt existentials. As Daigi (2013) shows, based on Togo (2012), Kinsui (2006) and Dik (1980), the two major types of existentials in High German were recognized; "spatiotemporal existentials" and "new information-introductory existentials." In the discourse, the function of the former (i.e.spatiotemporal existentials) is to share a certain existential presupposition between the speaker and hearer (reference), and then to explain its existential manner (predication). In contrast, the function of the latter (i.e.new information-introductory existentials) is to introduce new information to the discourse. This type of existential does not have a function of reference to indicate a certain entity that both the speaker and the hearer recognize, and therefore does not have a function of predication to describe such an entity. In this paper, I attempt to put forward a new classification of es hat and gibt impersonal existentials in Swiss High German.