The paradigm of patterns with the verb of possession in Ibero-Romance languages based on the corpus data

Abstract

The article attempts to find out the paradigm of patterns with the verb of possession (tener/ tenir/têr) in Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese using the material of corpus data. It also shows, basing on the criterion of subject-object relations, the possibility of syntactic transformations with other basic verbs following two possible ways: existentiality — stativeness — locativity and activeness — possession. Depending on the semantic characteristics of the names that fill the positions of actants within the configuration of the sentence patterns with the verb of possession with real or fictitious subjects (agents) and objects (patients), four types are distinguished: 1) animate subject — animate object; 2) animate subject — inanimate object; 3) inanimate subject — animate object; 4) inanimate subject — inanimate object. The analysis of the empirical material presented in the article allows us to assert that the role of the verb of possession as the most important structural element in the expression of predicativity in the Ibero-Romance area is very significant. A separate section of the article presents data showing that the features of the functioning of the possession verbs in the Ibero-Romance languages can be explained as a result of interference with the ancient pre-Roman language of the Iberian Peninsula — Basque.