Chapter 5
Existential sentences in Romance based Creoles
On the relational content of the contextual
domain
In this Chapter we provide a comprehensive comparative overview of
existentials sentences in Romance Creoles. Based on our empirical
investigation, we also provide a theoretical analysis of existential
constructions which mimic ‘transitive’ possession. Specifically, we assume
that the pervasiveness of a predicative possession strategy for existentials
in Creoles has reflexes in their syntax, for which a possession
configuration, building on recent work of Manzini & Franco (2016), Franco & Manzini
(2017a, b), will be draw. In essence, we argue that the ‘contextual
domain’ of existentials (see Francez,
2007, 2009) can be
encoded as the possessor of a (transitive) have
predicate including the pivot as its internal argument (cf. Manzini & Savoia, 2005), with
the coda which is (optionally) introduced as an adjunct encoding a further
possessor (‘locative’ inclusor) of the predicate (cf. McNally, 1992).
Article outline
- 5.1Introductory remarks
- 5.2Existentials in Romance based Creoles: The data
- 5.3Towards an analysis
- 5.3.1Theoretical background on existentials
- 5.3.2Our proposal for Romance based Creoles: The contextual domain (and
the coda) as ‘possessors’
- 5.4Conclusion
-
Notes