Chapter 2. Existential predication and have-possessive constructions in the languages of the world

Abstract

The present article deals with the relationship between have-possessive constructions and inverse-locational predication, a type of construction commonly characterized as ‘existential’, illustrated by EnglishThere is a cat in the tree(contrasting with the plain-locational clauseThe cat is in the tree). Some of the languages that have a transitive ‘have’ verb use the same verb as an inverse-locational predicator. Two types of historical explanations can be considered: either the inverse-locational construction developed from the impersonalization of a pre-existing have-possessive construction, or the possessive construction initially belonged to the locational-possessive type, but has undergone changes making the coding of the possessor more similar to that of A in transitive clauses and/or the coding of the possessee more similar to that of P (have-drift).