Existentials with expressions of saying

[Wouden A. van der]

Fellow typologists,

I am looking for languages with existential constructions (English
'there is', German 'es gibt') involving some word of
saying. Background: as I see it, in Dutch such a thing is
developing. Next to traditional 'er is' "there is" we now often find
'er is sprake van grote problemen' "there is speech of great problems"
for 'there are great problems'.  I would be interested in examples of
comparable constructions/expressions from other languages.

Note: I know of evidential constructions such as English 'rumour has
it' or Latin 'fama est', but I am less interested in these for the
moment, as no claim of existence is involved.


Thanks in advance,

T



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Ton van der Wouden

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