| Existence is the mode of movement and the form of expression of all things. All things exist in a certain time and space. Facing the sophisticated and complex external world, people need to unceasingly recognize and perceive the world as well as the human beings, so as to get the knowledge of people themselves. Languages are the externalized forms of this kind of recognition and perception. While the Existential Sentence is the language form to express the existence of all things. This dissertation, based on the combination of Chinese and non-Chinese languages, undertakes a comprehensive and detailed investigation for existential sentences of languages and dialects in Sino-Tibetan family from various aspects, including classification differences of existential verbs and structure patterns, classification, syntactics, semantics, pragmatics and typology of existential sentences. Adopting the means of field work and references reading, the dissertation reveals the similarities and differences of existential sentences in Sino-Tibetan family, and seeks the evolutionary tracks of existential verbs in Sino-Tibetan languages. This dissertation is divided into nine parts as follows.Chapter One:Introduction. This chapter defines the study range and objects, expounds the research meaning and values, and then introduces guiding principles, research methods, innovation and difficulties of the study, as well as the source of materials.Chapter Two:A Research Survey. This chapter offers a comprehensive summary of the main contribution to existential sentences and existential verbs followed by a brief introduction to the previous research on existential sentences and existential verbs both in Chinese and non-Chinese languages, and also by comparative studies on existential sentences between Chinese and other languages in Sino-Tibetan family. The achievements of Chinese existential sentences are numerous, including definition, range, structure and classification of existential sentences, which are composed of synchronic comparisons and diachronic investigation. Modern linguistic theories are also used to make an analysis of semantics and pragmatics of existential sentences. Studies on existential verbs in Chinese are manifested in related dissertations and books. Studies on existential verbs in minority languages are restricted in several languages like Tibetan language, Xixia language, Hani language and Qiang language. Those about the other minority languages can only be seen in varied reference grammars, language studies and brief surveys. As for comparative studies on existential sentences and existential verbs between Chinese and non-Chinese, it is still a blank.Chapter Three:A Study on Existential Verbs in Sino-Tibetan Family. This chapter points out the division of typical and untypical existential verbs in Sino-Tibetan family.'You/Zai' are typical existential verbs.'You/Zai' in most Tibeto-Burman languages not only mean 'existence', but differ in categories when referring to different semantics and ranges, such as [animals, plants], [±animate], [solid, liquid],[±mobile], [subjective, objective], etc. even though the words 'You' and 'Zai' are homomorphic. While 'You/Zai' in Chinese, Zhuang-Dong group and Miao-Yao group are not homoporphic and don't have different categories. Some other existential verbs, which we call untypical existential verbs, have single forms and few categories of classification. Existential verbs have some characteristics of normal verbs, such as being used to be predicate, having negative forms, and even categories of person and number in some languages. Existential verbs also have some characteristics different from normal verbs, for example, they cannot have reduplication and cannot be modified by adverbs. This chapter put importance on categories of classification, etymological relations and morphologic characters of the typical existential verbs as well as their differences in the languages involved.Chapter Four:The Structure Patterns of Existential Sentences in Sino-Tibetan Family. They are different due to different word orders. Existential verbs in most Tibeto-Burman languages appear in the end of sentences, while those in Chinese, Zhuang-Dong group and Miao-Yao group the middle of sentences. The existential sentences in Tibeto-Burman languages have two structure patterns:'A+ C+ B' and 'C+ A+ B'; while Chinese, Zhuang-Dong group and Miao-Yao group:'A+B+C'and'C+B+A'.Chapter Five:Classification of Existential Sentences in Sino-Tibetan Family. The languages and dialects in Sino-Tibetan Family are rich in existential sentences with various classifications which have formed a system. The existential sentences in Sino-Tibetan family can be classified from different angles. From semantic perspectivce, there are 'You/Zai' sentence pattern,'Shi' sentence pattern,'Tie' sentence pattern,'Gua' sentence pattern,'Zhan' sentence pattern,'Bai/Fang'sentence pattern,'Tang' sentence pattern,'Zuo' sentence pattern,'Piao/Fu'sentence pattern, etc. From characteristics of state, there are static existential sentences and dynamic existential sentences. From characteristics of tense and aspect, there are general (or common) existential sentences, progressive-aspect existential sentences, perfective-aspect existential sentences, and durative-aspect existential sentences, etc.Chapter Six:Syntactic Structure of Existential Sentences in Sino-Tibetan Family. The existential sentences in Sino-Tibetan Family are mainly composed of three sections:locative words (A), existential verbs (B), and existential subjects (C). Locative words indicate the places that things exist; the palces are cetain spaces substantial and sensible. Existential verbs indicate the existence of things and in what way do they exist; they express the Dependency Relations between existential subjects and locative words. Existential subjects mainly indicate what kins of things exist.Chapter Seven:Semantic and Pragmatic Characteristics of Existential Sentences in Sino-Tibetan Family. Section A of existential sentences in Sino-Tibetan family, served by locative words, indicate the places the existential subjects appear,which is the unknown or new information. Section B is divided into typical existential verbs and untypical existential verbs, having semantic characteristics of 'existence' and 'state'. The typical existential verbs indicate mere existence, and the untypical existential verbs durative existence. Section C is the core of existential sentences, which is the known or update information. The locative words in Sino-Tibetan Family can serve as topics of sentences, and constitute Topic Sentences. Existential sentences in Sino-Tibetan Family can constitute a clause in Complex Sentences, thus broaden the using range and pragmatic values of existential sentences and then fertilize the contents of clauses in Complex Sentences.Chapter Eight:Typological Characteristics of Existential Sentences in Sino-Tibetan Family. There are many similarities and differences of existential sentences in Sino-Tibetan family. These similarities in different groups and branches rest with either phylogenetic relationship or typological commonness. For example, Chinese is consistent with Zhuang-Dong and Miao-Yao in word order and struction of existential sentences, and classification of existential verbs. By contrast, Chinese is different from most Tibeto-Burman languages in the aboved aspects. Chinese, Zhuang-Dong, Miao-Yao, Bai language and Karen language all belong to SVO sentence patterns, therefore existential verbs like 'You/Zai'are short of forms; Most Tibeto-Burman languages (except Bai language and Karen language) belong to SOV sentence patterns, therefore existential verbs like'You/Zai'are rich in forms. But Chinese has the most closed ties of kinship with Tibeto-Burman languages, and the differences between them not only result from the fact that Chinese belongs to analytical language, while most Tibeto-Burman languages agglutinative language, but also indicate internal linguistic characteristics of each language lead to different individual features after groups or branches were disintegrated.Chapter Nine:General conclusion. This chapter includes an overview of the main points of the dissertation. It also points out the incomplete aspects of the dissertation and gives directions for further research.
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