There is more about existentials

Agreement and case assignment in Serbian and Lithuanian

Abstract

This paper examines the properties of existential constructions in Serbian and Lithuanian. Existential constructions share some interpretive properties with locative constructions, in that both express a proposition about the existence or the presence of someone or something in a context. However, Serbian and Lithuanian existentials display a cluster of properties that set them apart from locatives: unmarked verb-subject order (with pivot following copula), lack of agreement between copula and post-copular pivot, genitive case on the pivot and a dedicated form of the copula. The case properties of the pivot in existentials depend on specific interpretive properties related to agentivity, volitionality and definiteness and there are structural distinctions between existential and locatives, which are captured in syntax with parallel Agree operations: in locatives, the copula agrees with the pivot; in existentials, it agrees with an expletive pro.