On the Syntax and Semantics of Haber and Tener

This paper presents a novel approach on the syntax and semantics of the two spanish auxiliary verbs haber and tener and their distributional properties. It is argued that these verbs share key syntactic properties, but denote two different types of semantic relations. While tener denotes a property ascribed to the subject, haber only introduces the temporal reference of a sentence. This proposal on the semantics of tener and haber is then inserted in a broader proposal on auxiliary verbs, copulae and their distribution. It is shown that the current proposal can correctly account the distribution of tener and haber, and be seamlessly integrated with standard approaches to ser and estar