13.1392, Sum: Verbs "to have" and "to be"

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List:  Vol-13-1392. Fri May 17 2002. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 13.1392, Sum: Verbs "to have" and "to be"

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1)
Date:  Fri, 17 May 2002 15:47:16 +0200
From:  "Pavol Stekauer" <stekpal at saris.unipo.sk>
Subject:  to be and to have

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Fri, 17 May 2002 15:47:16 +0200
From:  "Pavol Stekauer" <stekpal at saris.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 worldâEuro(tm)s
languages do not use verb TO HAVE âEuro" 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.

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