Finnish Existential Clauses - Their Syntax, Pragmatics and Intonation

This work proposes that grammatical constructions are among the basic units of syntax. Finnish existential clauses are used as an example. This clausal construction is defined in terms of its immediate constituency only, and its meaning is compositional. Free word order is seen to form an independent set of three sequence constructions, which cut across all clause types. Each of these constructions has a specific pragmatic value, and they also encode the definiteness of the NPs involved. An important formal concomitant of the sequence constructions is their accentual pattern. A pitch-accent analysis of Finnish intonation is proposed, and experimental evidence provided for the default contours of the sequence constructions. Intonation can also be used to signal an override of the default pragmatics of a construction. A nomenclature for discourse analysis is advanced in order to understand the pragmatics of word order