This thesis looks at positive and negative existentials in Finnish and Hungarian with the help of the framework of Denis Creissels’ 7 types of existentials for the positive constructions, as well...Show moreThis thesis looks at positive and negative existentials in Finnish and Hungarian with the help of the framework of Denis Creissels’ 7 types of existentials for the positive constructions, as well as Croft’s Cycle for the negative constructions. The findings are that neither language fits neatly within Creissels’ types, as both show several different constructions. Finnish has three distinct ways of forming existentials: ‘olla + locative’, ‘olla + agent participle of olla + locative’, or a ‘copula only’ construction. Hungarian has two different ways of forming existentials: with ‘lenni + locative’, as well as a ‘copula only’ construction. Not every construction is grammatical in every context. Often existentials cannot be clearly separated from locatives and possessives. Generally, word order and context work together with a specific construction to somewhat differentiate it from other constructions. However, multiple interpretations of a single construction are often possible, so this is not absolute. These findings go against multiple claims often made in conventional literature.Show less
The thesis compares two non-canonical question types in Mandarin: Negative Wh-Constructions and causal/denial how-questions. The second chapter investigates their syntax. Based on a number of...Show moreThe thesis compares two non-canonical question types in Mandarin: Negative Wh-Constructions and causal/denial how-questions. The second chapter investigates their syntax. Based on a number of syntactic tests, they seem to share the same position in the Mandarin sentence. The third chapter aims to answer the question whether there are any differences between Negative Wh-Constructions and propositional negations. Negative Wh-Constructions prove to be metalinguistic negations, and as such, their use is limited by some conversational constraints. Also, as for the licensing of negative polarity items, they show a peculiar behavior. The fourth chapter looks at Mandarin 'how come' questions and the source of their causal and denial readings. Causality is explained in syntactic terms while for the denial reading, a semantic explanation is given based on modality. Mandarin data are compared to Hungarian ones.Show less
