78 Existential verb and transitive possession verb

This feature is described more fully in chapter 78.


This feature investigates whether the existential verb (‘there is’) is identical to the transitive verb of possession ‘have’ (cf. the first value in Feature 77 and Feature 64 on expletive subject of existential verb), as in Seychelles Creole (i annan koudvan [56-145] 'there is a hurricane', ou annan en zoli lakaz 'you have a nice house'). 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 are classified under the last value (no transitive possession verb).


Susanne Maria Michaelis and the APiCS Consortium


No transitive possession verb9

Language Value Lexifier Details Source
Id Primary text Analyzed text Gloss Translation Type Language Audio Details