On the Morpho-Syntax of Existential Sentences in Romance based Creoles

In this paper 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 and Franco (2016), Franco and Manzini (2017, to appear), Franco and Lorusso (2018) 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 and Savoia 2005), with the coda which is (optionally) introduced as an adjunct encoding a further possessor (‘locative’ inclusor) of the predicate (cf. McNally 1992).