LINGUIST List 13.1392

Fri May 17 2002

Sum: Verbs "to have" and "to be"

Editor for this issue: Marie Klopfenstein <marielinguistlist.org>

Directory

  • Pavol Stekauer, to be and to have

    Message 1: to be and to have

     Date: Fri, 17 May 2002 15:47:16 +0200
    From: Pavol Stekauer <stekpalsaris.unipo.sk>
    Subject: to be and to have


    Dear colleagues:

    I would like to appreciate your help in collecting the relevant information about languages without the verbs to be/to have. Below please find a brief summary of your data.

    Yours sincerely

    Pavol Stekauer Department of British and American Studies Faculty of Arts Presov University Slovakia

    EXISTENTIAL VERBS "TO BE" AND "TO HAVE" in different languages

    The general typological guess is that roughly 50% of world�Euro(tm)s languages do not use verb TO HAVE �Euro" instead, they make use of various kinds of syntactic constructions, often involving a locative associated with the possesor. (e.g with /at /over /in... me is a book)

    More specifically about some languages: HEBREW:

    TO BE:

    Yossi {hu} more. Yossi a teacher. = Yossi is a teacher Yossi nexmad. Yossi nice. = Yossi is nice.

    TO HAVE "" this language do not use it; together with other languages e.g. Welsch, possession is expressed as: to me / you / him as e.g. to be to someone

    STANDARD ARABIC: has not such verbs (word :"malaka" corresponds more to "own" than to "have")

    TO BE: "be" verb is only for the past and present, no present indicative copula (the same for Russian language)

    TO HAVE: no TO HAVE verb - expressed with preposition "li"- for (written together with the following word; before pronouns it appears as "la") : La-naa al-qudrat-u For-us definite-power-nominative We have the power.

    - expressed using: is to / with: e.g. l-ii qualamun = to-me a pen (I have a pen)

    JAPANESE: has BE and EXIST, but strictly speaking not HAVE

    e.g. watashi (ni) wa ga aru me (to) topic possessed (pen) "" subject exist. I have a pen.

    SCOTS GAELIC: No verb "to have", use constructions like: Tha cat agam. Is cat at me. I have a cat.

    HUNGARIAN: and other Ugrofinian languages, e. g Finnish

    TO BE: -has form TO BE, but in usage in copulative meaning it frequently dispenses with it e.g. A macska (cat) fekete (black). (Rather than A macska fekete van) A könyv zöld. "" The book green. But verb "be" is needed in locative meaning. E.g. The book is on the table. A könyv az asztalon van. The book the table on is.

    TO HAVE: does not have a verb for TO HAVE, uses TO BE for TO HAVE: e.g. I have my passport. Nekem (to, for me) van (is) az utvelem. (my passport) I do not have"� Nekem nincs az"�

    TURKISH: does not really have either

    TO BE: O ögrenci (dir) Araba mavi (dir) He/she student (3. pers.) Car blue. (3. pers.) He/she is a student. The car is blue.

    TO HAVE: Benim - arabam - var My car - 1.pers. poss. "" exists I have a car.

    PACIFIC LANGUAGE AULUA, NORTH CENTRAL VANUATU, (Austronesian) does not have a verb TO HAVE. Instead, the existence of possession is marked by a possessive construction and the verb TO EXIST. E.g. nakulit t-uhnung I-ndoh dog poss.-1st 3sg- realis. exist.

    QUECHUA "" spoken in the Andes of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia has the verb TO BE, but not a separate verb TO HAVE. This is expressed with a derived BE form, e .g. house exists for me (I have a house).

    MUSKOGEAN languages (southeastern NAmerica, Native American languages, Amerindian languages) lack these verbs

    MAORI probably counts as a language with no verb TO BE



    CHINESE: TO BE is not always needed: e.g. Wo hen hao. I very well.

    Special rules apply also to languages in Africa, East Caucasian languages, Jaqi languages (Jaquru, Kawki, Aymara) and many others.