Re: "There can be"

Mark J. Reed skrev:
 > How do langs with various other idiomatic renderings of
 > "there is/are" convey the idea "there can be"? (c.f.
 > Favorite catchphase of fantasy-struck boy-children of the
 > 80's, "there can be only one"). Would "se puede hacer"
 > send the right message in Spanish? What the heck can you
 > do with "I'll y a" in French - "I'll y peux avoir"?
 >

Swedish _Det kan bara finnas en_ is kind of complex
semantically: _finnas_ used to mean 'be found' but now means
'exist' or 'there be', which is strictly kept apart from the
copula _vara_. But IIRC the catchphrase you refer to was
translated as _Det kan bara bli en_ 'There can only come to
be one'. _Bli_ is cognate of German _bleiben_ 'remain' but
means 'become' or 'come to be' in the copular sense of the
latter. 'Come to exist' is _bli till_ 'become-to'.

Ain't even ones ol' L1 wonderful? :-)


/BP 8^)>
--
Benct Philip Jonsson -- melroch atte melroch dotte se
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   "C'est en vain que nos Josués littéraires crient
   à la langue de s'arrêter; les langues ni le soleil
   ne s'arrêtent plus. Le jour où elles se *fixent*,
   c'est qu'elles meurent."           (Victor Hugo)