Abstract
The aim of this paper is twofold: (i) to analyze the use of the verbs ter and haver in the history of Portuguese and, more specifically, in a recent stage of Brazilian Portuguese, in which the possessive ter is used as an existential verb; and (ii) to discuss some properties involving ter and haver in possessive and existential domains, in both European and Brazilian Portuguese, pointing to the possibility of verbal agreement with ter/haver-existential constructions. Exploring results from previous analyses it is shown that some properties of existential constructions, in contemporary Brazilian Portuguese, can derive from changes involving subject position, related to the weakening of flectional paradigm.
Highlights
Throughout the recorded history of Portuguese language, ter (
Note that there is stability until the 15th century, the rates of haver and ter being, respectively, 72% and 28%. This scenario changes abruptly in the 16th century, when the rate of ter rises to 90% and overtakes the rate of haver
The variation of ter and haver in Brazilian Portuguese may reflect a syntactic solution in the domain of the possessive-existential constructions to deal with the loss of referential null subject
Summary
Throughout the recorded history of Portuguese language, ter (
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