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What else is there to say about existential there?

A corpus-based study of existential there-clauses in written Nigerian English

ORCiD logo with link | Lagos State University
ORCiD logo with link | Delta State University
Published online: 26 February 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.25029.ade
Abstract
There is a dearth of studies on existential there-occurrence in written Nigerian English. Based on the 400,796-word written sub-corpus of International Corpus of English Nigeria (ICE-Nigeria) and its 17 genres containing 510 files, this study examines existential there-clauses (ETCs) in written Nigerian English. The material was printed for data extraction and was revisited several times, focusing on distribution and frequency, syntactic positions, predicators, complements, and adjuncts. Systemic Grammar underlies the study. The data comprises 661 ETCs. The occurrence rate is 1.65 in 1000 words and is highest in Exams (2.62). ETCs are most frequent as independent clauses and least as subjects. While BE represents 98 percent of predicators, and indefinite pronouns account for 6.3 percent of complements, a (n) and no are the highest modifiers. 53 percent of ETCs derive from kernel sentences, but their 0.5 percent occurrence as complements of let-type imperative clauses questions existing theory and description.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Descriptive viewpoints, previous studies, and theoretical framework
    • 2.1Existential there in the grammar of English
    • 2.2Previous studies
    • 2.3Theoretical and descriptive framework
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1The corpus
    • 3.2Data collection
    • 3.3Data analysis
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Occurrence and general distribution
    • 4.2Predicators
    • 4.3Complements
    • 4.4Adjuncts
    • 4.5Syntactic functions
    • 4.6The let-type imperative clause
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Sources
  • References
References (48)
Sources
Gut, Ulrike. 2015. The International Corpus of English: Nigeria (ICE-Nigeria). 〈[URL]〉
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