presentatiiviset

Presentatiiviset is a linguistic term used to describe constructions that present or introduce referents, events, or situations into the discourse as being present or salient for the listener. They function to draw attention to something new or relevant and often help manage information structure, focus, and topic introduction. The category is cross-linguistic and can appear with different formal strategies depending on the language.

Typology and function

Presentatives can be existential, introducing the existence of a referent (for example, introducing an entity into the discourse), or deictic, signaling the arrival or appearance of an event, object, or person. They may employ copular predicates, demonstratives, or particles, and can be clause-initial or clause-medial. In some languages, presentatives rely on an expletive or dummy subject, while in others the main predicate carries the presentative meaning. Beyond existence and arrival, presentatives can also mark attention focus or discourse-shift, guiding the listener’s interpretation of what is being introduced.

Syntactic realization

Different languages realize presentatives through varying morphosyntactic means. In English, expletive there as a subject in existential constructions is common (There is a problem). In other languages, deictic adverbs, demonstratives, or dedicated particles fulfill the role. Some languages use verb-first or particle-based strategies, while others combine a copula with locative or demonstrative elements. The exact realization often interacts with word order, information structure, and animacy or definiteness of the referent.

Examples

English: There is a cat on the mat. Here comes the wind.

Finnish (illustrative): Täällä on kissa maton päällä. Tässä tulee juna. These illustrate how presentatives introduce new referents or events into discourse and direct attention to their existence or arrival.

See also

Present tense, existential clause, expletive subject, information structure.