What is the origin of the use of the object (it) in the following sentences, and what is its purpose?
I like it here!
Did you like it there?
In essence, the things we are saying we like are really here (this place) and there (that place) themselves - whence the insertion of the antecedent-free pronoun?
Note: I can think of plenty of antecedents you could replace the "it" with, so that's not the answer I'm looking for.