| 摘要 | 第4-5页 |
| Abstract | 第5页 |
| 1. Introduction | 第8-11页 |
| 1.1 Background of the Study | 第8-9页 |
| 1.2 Objectives of the Study | 第9页 |
| 1.3 Arrangement of the Thesis | 第9-11页 |
| 2. Literature Review | 第11-17页 |
| 2.1 Overseas Studies | 第11-14页 |
| 2.2 Domestic Studies | 第14-17页 |
| 3. Interpretation of English Existential Sentence with Figure-Ground Theory | 第17-27页 |
| 3.1 Introduction to Figure-Ground Theory | 第17-21页 |
| 3.1.1 Creation of Figure-Ground | 第17-19页 |
| 3.1.2 Characteristics of Figure and Ground | 第19-21页 |
| 3.2 Boundary of English Existential Sentence | 第21-25页 |
| 3.2.1 Figure-Ground Feature of English Existential Sentence | 第22-23页 |
| 3.2.2 Re-defining the Scope of English Existential Sentence | 第23-25页 |
| 3.3 Interpretation of Existential Entity with Figure-Ground Theory | 第25-27页 |
| 4. Grammaticalization of English Existential Sentence | 第27-37页 |
| 4.1 The Notion of Grammaticalization | 第27-28页 |
| 4.2 Grammaticalization of Existential There | 第28-33页 |
| 4.2.1 Grammaticalization of Existential There | 第28-30页 |
| 4.2.2 Characteristics of Grammaticalized There | 第30页 |
| 4.2.3 Distinction between Existential There and Deictic There | 第30-32页 |
| 4.2.4 Distinction between Existential There and Deictic Here | 第32-33页 |
| 4.3 Grammaticalization of Existential Verb | 第33-36页 |
| 4.4 Grammaticalization of Existential Entity | 第36-37页 |
| 5. Investigation of EES with Iconicity Theory | 第37-46页 |
| 5.1 Introduction to Iconicity Theory | 第37-38页 |
| 5.2 Classifications of Iconicity | 第38-41页 |
| 5.3 Investigation of Subject-Predict Consistency | 第41-44页 |
| 5.4 Cognitive Interpretation of Subject-predicate Inconsistency | 第44-46页 |
| 6. Conclusion | 第46-48页 |
| 6.1 Major Findings | 第46-47页 |
| 6.2 Limitations | 第47-48页 |
| Acknowledgements | 第48-49页 |
| Bibliography: | 第49-53页 |
| Appendix A(examples from BNC Corpus) | 第53页 |
