Here and There

This chapter studies various instances of the word there using comparative syntax, and argues that there is not itself intrinsically locative. In its locative uses, there occurs concurrently with an unpronounced noun PLACE (which is locative). Then (apparently) locative there can be assimilated to the evidently non-locative there of (archaic English) They spoke thereof, and similarly for Dutch and German, which have a very productive use of there + P. This chapter proposes that demonstrative here and there should not be thought of as locatives originating in a reduced relative clause. In fact, locative and non-locative there, when looked at from the right perspective, are both to be considered instances of demonstrative there.