The syntax of English presentatives

What is it about?

This article describes the properties of a type of sentence that exists in many (perhaps all) languages of the world, which we call "presentatives." Though superficially different, they exhibit common properties across languages, which we uncover and discuss in detail, in an attempt to characterize their syntax and how they contribute to the discourse. Here are a few examples or presentatives from a small sample of language: Here’s a gas station. (English) Hier ist eine Tankstelle!.(German) İşte (bir) benzin istasyonu. (Turkish) Evo benzinsk-e pump-e. (Serbian) Voilà une station d’essence. (French) Ecco un benzinaio. (Italian) These sentences consist of a noun phrase (in English, "a gas station") and an element in sentence-initial position that is either unique to this type of sentence (like French "voilà" and Italian "ecco") or resembles a locative ("here" in English, "hier" in German) or a demonstrative.

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Why is it important?

Presentatives are a type pf sentences that has not been studied extensively. The tools of current syntactic analysis allow us to shed on their properties in a way that wasn't previously possible.