Mitä tarkoittaa se, että? Se-pronominista subjektina ja objektina toimivan että-lauseen yhteydessä

• Jaakko Leino

Avainsanat: pronominit, sivulauseet, syntaksi

Abstrakti

On using the pronoun se with an että clause as subject or object (englanti)

1/1999 (103)

Jaakko Leino (University of Helsinki, Department of Finnish; [e-mail])

ON USING THE PRONOUN SE WITH AN ETT CLAUSE AS SUBJECT OR OBJECT

The article discusses the use of the demonstrative pronoun se 'it' to introduce a relative clause beginning with the conjunction ett 'that', where this ett clause functions as the subject or (direct) object of its matrix clause. The object of study is standard written Finnish. Although it is well known that the pronoun se often occurs with an ett clause, very little has thus far been written about when or why it is used. The generally accepted view, originally stated by Siro (1968), is that the pronoun is compulsory when an ett clause functions as a sentence constituent which would otherwise be marked with a local case. Since the case ending cannot be attached directly to the ett clause, it is attached to the pronoun se instead. However, very little consideration has been given to the motivation for the use of the pronoun se when an ett clause functions as subject or object.

The main point made in the article is that the pronoun se turns the ett clause into a referring noun phrase. This reference is interpreted differently depending on the situation in question. The article's main conclusions are based on the fact that a referring noun phrase presupposes the existence of its referent.

When the referent of the ett clause is a state of affairs, the existential presupposition of the reference is tantamount to a factive presupposition. This is because the existence of a state of affairs is essentially equal to the truth of its description. When, in turn, the referent of the ett clause is a linguistic expression or a proposition, in other words a representation of a state of affairs, the reference is interpreted in terms of specificity: the existential presupposition of a linguistic expression, for example, is that the expression has been uttered (or written).

Aside from this semantic explanation, some syntactic motivational factors are also considered. The writer notes, for example, that many Finnish speakers do not accept a sentence-initial ett clause as a subject without the pronoun se. The writer also finds that the pronoun se is more than three times as frequent with an ett clause as subject than as object.

The article concludes that, setting aside syntactic factors, reference and the presupposition contained therein is the main factor explaining the motivation for use of the pronoun se with an ett clause as subject or object.