Syntactic expletive

A syntactic expletive (abbreviated EXPL) is a form of expletive: a word that in itself contributes nothing to the semantic meaning of a sentence, yet does perform a syntactic role.[1] Expletive subjects in the form of dummy pronouns are part of the grammar of many non-pro-drop languages such as English, whose clauses normally require overt provision of subject even when the subject can be pragmatically inferred. (For an alternative theory considering expletives like there as a dummy predicate rather than a dummy subject based on the analysis of the copula see Moro 1997[2]). Consider this example:

"It is important that you work hard for the exam."

Following the eighteenth-century conception of pronoun, Bishop Robert Lowth objected that since "it" is a pronoun, it should have an antecedent. Since it cannot function without an antecedent in Latin, Lowth declared the usage to be incorrect in English. It is possible to rephrase such sentences omitting the syntactic expletive "it," for example:

"That you work hard for the exam is important," or
"To work hard for the exam is important."

Since subject pronouns are not used in Latin except for emphasis, neither are expletive pronouns and the problem does not arise. For example, the Latin equivalent of it is necessary that you [do something], oportet tibi, translates to 'necessitates to you'.

Since English syntax and Latin syntax are not the same, the sentence was and is fully acceptable to native speakers of English and thus was and is widely considered to be proper grammar. It has no meaning here; it merely serves as a dummy subject. (It is sometimes called preparatory it or prep it, or a dummy pronoun.)

Bishop Lowth did not condemn sentences that use there as an expletive, for example:

"There are ten desks here."

The nomenclature used for the constituents of sentences such as this is still a matter of some dispute, but there might be the subject, are the copula, and ten desks a predicate nominal.

Examples

Swedish

In Swedish, the use of expletive subjects is a recent development. Research has found[3] that almost all sentences analyzed from Early Old Swedish lacked an expletive pronoun. In the Late Old Swedish, the use of expletive pronouns increased, mostly seen in religious texts, although it was still relatively uncommon. Today, the use of overt expletive pronouns continue to increase with several types of clauses in which expletives appear in. There is a general consensus among researchers [4] in that finite clauses in this language must have an overt subject present. This phenomenon is referred to as the subject requirement. When a clause has no subject present, the expletive subject det 'it' is used. However, under certain conditions, there are clauses in which det is omitted.

Occurences of Det in Swedish

Below is a list of the types of sentences in which det occurs in Swedish.

Topic Drop: Initial Expletives

In Swedish, there are some cases where the initial expletives go through topic drop (i.e. unpronounced topic in a clause where the referent is highly accessible). While this phenomenon occurs in other areas apart from a subject position, it is limited to the initial position as seen in (1). The first lexical item is omitted in the sentence below. 

 (1) ∅  Var   soligt   och   varmt. 
        was   sunny   and    hot.
  ‘(It)  was   sunny   and    hot.’

Cleft Constructions

The Swedish word det ‘it’ is also used when forming cleft constructions as seen in (2A). This construction is more common than it is in English, especially when forming questions in Swedish (2B).[5]

(2)A. (Det) var längesen jag såg dig. [6]
     it   was long.ago I saw you.ACC
   ‘It is a long time ago since I saw you.’
(2) B. Var *(det) längesen jag såg dig? [7]
    was it long.ago I saw you?
   'Is it a long time since I saw you?

See Syntactic Analysis of 'Det' for an explanation on the ungrammaticality (denoted by the asterisk) if det is omitted from the sentence.

Extraposed Clauses (Infinitival clauses or Finite clauses)

Extraposition occurs when a clause that acts as a subject is moved to the rightmost position of a sentence and replaced by the lexical item det it in the initial position [8]. In Swedish, det occurs in these types of clauses. In Falk’s (1993) work [9], this occurrence is known as the clause-anticipating det as shown in (3).

(3) (Det) var trevligt att träffa dig/ att du kunde komma. [10]
    it was nice.NEUT to meet you that you could come 
   ‘It is nice to meet you/that you could come.’

Syntactical Analysis of Det

(TBD)


See also

References

Notes

  1. "Expletive | Define Expletive at Dictionary.com". Dictionary.reference.com. Retrieved 2013-10-15.
  2. Moro, A. 1997 The Raising of Predicates. Predicative Noun Phrases and the Theory of Clause Structure, Cambridge Studies in Linguistics, 80, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  3. Håkansson, David (2017). "Transitive expletive constructions in Swedish". Nordic Journal of Linguistics. 40 (3): 255–285. doi:10.1017/S0332586517000208. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  4. Engdahl, Elisabet (2012). "Optional expletive subjects in Swedish". Nordic Journal of Linguistics. 35 (2): 99–144. doi:10.1017/S0332586512000169. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  5. Holmes, Hinchcliffe, Philip, Ian (2013). Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. p. 744. ISBN 9780203381670. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  6. Engdahl, Elisabet (2012). "Optional expletive subjects in Swedish". Nordic Journal of Linguistics. 35 (2): 99–144. doi:10.1017/S0332586512000169. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  7. Engdahl, Elisabet (2012). "Optional expletive subjects in Swedish". Nordic Journal of Linguistics. 35 (2): 99–144. doi:10.1017/S0332586512000169. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  8. Nordquist, Richard. "Extraposition in Grammar". Thought Co. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  9. Falk, Cecilia (1993). "Non-referential subjects and agreements in Swedish". Lingua. 89 (2): 143–180. doi:10.1016/0024-3841(93)90051-W. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  10. Engdahl, Elisabet (2012). "Optional expletive subjects in Swedish". Nordic Journal of Linguistics. 35 (2): 99–144. doi:10.1017/S0332586512000169. Retrieved 13 December 2021.

Further reading

  • Everaert, M.; van Riemsdijk, H; Goedemans, R. (eds) 2006 The Blackwell Companion to Syntax, 5 volumes, Blackwell, London: see "existential sentences and expletive there" in Volume 2.
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