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In:Subjects in Constructions – Canonical and Non-Canonical:
Edited by Marja-Liisa Helasvuo and Tuomas Huumo
[Constructional Approaches to Language 16] 2015
► pp. 13–41

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On the subject of subject in Finnish

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Published online: 14 January 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.16.02huu
This article examines the category of subject in Finnish. Among the grammatical features examined are case marking, agreement and syntax, semantic role, its relation to other sentence elements and its semantic function as regards the sentence as a whole. One important discourse feature is whether the subject introduces a referent and whether that referent is mentioned again later in the discourse. We discuss different construction types and examine whether the alleged subjects fulfil the role of the subject as defined in cognitive grammar, i.e. which function as a clause-level trajector and as a starting point for the construal of the relationship and its participants. More generally, it is argued that the trajector does not necessarily constitute the subject of the clause-level construction. The function of an e-NP (existential NP) is proposed for such elements instead.
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