The relationship between entity and space in English and Bulgarian existential sentences

The nature of the relationship between Entity and Space is discussed along the parameters: (a) Internal / External Space and (b) Essentiality / Contingency of the „Entity / PART / : Space / WHOLE/“ relationship. It is argued that the value of these parameters determines some of the major differences between English and Bulgarian in the choice of an existential sentence (the there construction and the impersonal има) or of a personal construction (with have and the personal имам, respectively). Unlike English, the Bulgarian existential има construction is not the choice in the case of Internal Space and/or a more essential part : whole relationship, owing to the specificity of the verb, itself the result of a shift towards impersonality.