<em>Tener</em> and <em>traer</em>: verbs of possession in Spanish

This paper analyzes possession verbs in Spanish. Drawing from Myler (2016), the current analysis proposes that the possessive verb tener is the transitive counterpart of ser. Another possessive verb, traer, is the transitive counterpart of estar and thus combines with stage-level predicates. In these constructions, the possessive reading originates in the predicate. This analysis departs from prior analyses that derive tener and traer from the incorporation of a comitative preposition, con (Ruvalcaba 2020). It also compares the Spanish data with data from the Bantu language Mashi (Finholt 2024) which has a similar pair of possession verbs and copular counterparts. The comparison shows that Spanish is less restricted than Mashi when it comes to the syntactic contexts in which one finds a tener and traer-like distinction. Drawing from Fábregas et al. (2023) it is proposed that tener, like ser, is the elsewhere form while traer, like estar, is spelled out in a marked structure, namely when there is a terminal coincidence feature or head in the structure. In addition, tener and traer can take small clause predicates (e.g., causative have constructions etc.). It is shown that small clauses embedded under traer are only allowed stage-level predicate readings. Altogether, these observations provide further support for the argument that possessive traer is the transitive counterpart of estar while tener is the transitive counterpart of ser.