Chapter 78: Existential verb and transitive possession verb

Feature information for this chapter can be found in feature 78.

1. Introduction

This feature investigates whether the existential verb (‘there is’) is identical to the transitive verb of possession ‘have’ (cf. value 1 in Chapter 77, and Chapter 64 on expletive subject of existential verb), as in (1a-b).

(1)
a.
Be
but
ler
when
i
pm
annan
exist
koudvan
hurrican
zot
3pl
pa
neg
reste
stay
lo
on
sa
dem
[...]
[...]
zil?
island
But when there is a hurricane, they don't stay on the [...] island? (Lit. when it has a hurricane)
b.
sa
dem
zoli
nice
lakaz
house
ki
rel
ou
2sg
annan
have
la
there
this nice house which you have

By “existential verb” we refer to the element corresponding to English there is in existential clauses like There is food on the table. If the existential verb is not identical to the transitive possession verb, it is identical to a copula verb or includes an additional fixed element such as there in English.

Some languages have multiple predicative possession constructions, not just a transitive predicative verb like ‘have’. In such languages, we only consider the transitive possession verb, not the other predicative possession constructions.

Other languages lack a transitive possession verb. They will be classified under value 4 (see below).

2. The values

In this feature we distinguish four values:

Identity41
Differentiation17
Overlap8
No transitive possession verb9
Representation:75

The majority of the APiCS languages show identical expression of the existential verb and the transitive possession verb (value 1). As can be seen from the map, this pattern is represented in different areas of the world. It is found in pidgins, creoles, and mixed languages alike. Note that this type is also present in French (il y a 'there is'; il a 'he has'), whereas it is absent from English, Spanish, and Portuguese (but cf. Brazilian Portuguese existential tem). Throughout this chapter, the (a) examples show existential verbs, and the (b) examples show transitive possession verbs.

(2)
a.
Tiene
exist
mucho
plenty
hielo
ice
na
loc
frigider.
refrigerator
There is plenty of ice in the refrigerator.
b.
Tiene
have
yo
1sg
casa.
house
I have a house.
(3)
a.
gɛʔ
exist
big
big
kaɪn
kind
ʃak-s
shark-pl
There are big sharks (here).
b.
luk
look
laɪk
like
ju
2sg
gɛt
have
inʤɛn
Indian
It looks like you've got Indian (blood in you).

In some languages, the 'have' verb combines with the second person pronoun to yield the existential meaning, as shown in ex. (4a):

(4)
a.
Yu
2sg
had
have
di
the
djadj
judge
yu
2sg
had
have
dis
this
seym
same
gavmɛn
government
laya.
lawer
There was the judge, and there was that government lawyer.
b.
Anansi
Anansi
neva
ant.neg
had
have
no
no
layt.
light
Anansi did not have any light.

In Mixed Ma'a/Mbugu the existential verb is expressed by using the locative noun class prefix as subject marker on the 'have' verb -lo.

(5)
a.
hé-lo
16-have
isonhka
dust
i-kumure
5-many
There is a lot of dust.
b.
é-lo
3sg-have
ina
face
i-kuhlo
5-nice
She has a nice face.

As in other chapters (e.g. Chapter 76 on predicative noun phrases and predicative locative phrases), here too, the identity value can subsume a pattern which can be best described as "two-fold identity". Here, existential situations and possessive situations can each be coded by two different verbs, but each of the two verbs can occur in both contexts. An example comes from African American English, where got and have are used in existentials (6a and a’) and possessive contexts (6b/b’) alike:

(6)
a.
Dey
expl
got
got.exist
a
a
fly
fly
messing
messing
with
with
me.
me
There is a fly bothering me (Lit. There is a fly messing with me)
b./b.'
I have/got a table.
I have a table
a.'
It
expl
had
have.pst.exist
some
some
breaded
breaded
chicken
chicken
sticks.
sticks
There were some breaded chicken sticks.

Seventeen APiCS languages have different existential and possessive verbs (value 2). These are mostly creoles and mixed languages.

(7)
a.
Buku
book
dɛ.
be
There is a book.
b.
Mi
1sg
abi
have
wan
indf
buku.
book
I have a book.
(8)
a.
fi
exist
nas
people
bi=fékir
irr=think
ínu
comp
ma
neg
kwes
good
kéda
like.this
There are people who think that it is not good this way.
b.
tijára
business
abáo
forbit\pass
le
to
zol
individual
al
rel
ma
neg
éndu
have
róksa
permission
Business is forbidden to the one who doesn't have a permission.

Interestingly, pidgins do not show this value, except for Chinuk Wawa (whereas other pidgins show the identity pattern or do not have a transitive possession verb, see value 4).

(9)
a.
mákmak
food
mitlayt
sit
kápa
prep
latáb
table
There is food on the table.
b.
náyka
1sg
t'úwən
have
kyútan
horse
I have a horse.

Languages with the next value show an overlap pattern (value 3): there are two verbs, one of which means both ‘there is’ and ‘have’, whereas the other one only has one of these meanings. For example, in Creolese the verb gat is used in existential and in possessive constructions, whereas the verb de is only used in existential constructions (Devonish & Thompson 2013). Languages which show a similar coding pattern are Berbice Dutch, Bahamian Creole, Sranan, Angolar, and Fa d'Ambô. It turns out that all cases of overlap show one 'have' verb which can be used in both contexts and one verb which only occurs in existentials. So the range of possibilites to express existentials is wider than for possessive situations.

Nine APiCS languages, all of them outside of the Americas, do not have a transitive possessive verb and therefore cannot take part in the comparison here (compare with Chapter 77 on transitive possession verbs, where these languages have values other than value 1). These languages thus have value 4.

3. Distribution

As mentioned above, the identity pattern is widespread and can be found in all areas of the world. But there is also some areal clustering worth mentioning. One such area is the central Caribbean region where all languages without exception show identity, irrespectively of the European base language. So we find English-, French- and Spanish-based creoles all showing the same verb for existential and possessive situations. Interestingly, the mainland languages in the Guianas show either different marking or overlap (except for Guyanais, which features the identity pattern).

World-wide cross-linguistic data show that in many languages existential and possessive constructions are expressed by the same verb (Stassen 2009). Diachronically, one can trace both ways of grammaticalization: (i) from an existential construction ('at me is a book') to a transitive possessive construction ('I have a book'; this is the case in Finnish, see Creissels 2011), and (ii) from a transitive possessive construction 'have', 'hold' or 'grasp' ('she has') to an existential construction ('it has, there is', see the French example above; cf. Creissels 2011, Heine 1997).