Verbs of Position, Existence, Location and Possession and their Grammaticalization Pathways in the Tani Languages

Abstract

In some languages, existential, locative and possessive predications are handled by verbs, verbal auxiliaries or copulas with tailored existential, locative or possessive meanings such as 'be (at)', 'live', 'have' or 'exist'. In other languages, some or all of these functions may be coded by verbs of posture or orientation such as 'sit' 'stand' and 'lie down', among others (cf. several papers in Newman 2002; also Hellwig 2003). Often, existential, locative or possessive predicate selection in the second type of language depends on, or makes reference to, some inherent properties of the focused referent (i.e., the existee, locatee, or possessed), and/or its orientation in space (i.e., in terms of the speaker's construal of the situation). Aikhenvald has described this operation as 'classificatory', as it basically reflects the same semantic and pragmatic principles governing selection of numeral or nominal classifiers in languages which have them.