GB430

Can adnominal possession be marked by a prefix on the possessor?

Summary

This feature targets a specific type of adnominal possessive construction, namely one where a possessor (either nominal or pronominal) is marked with a prefix or proclitic to indicate possession of an object. This frequently takes the form of a genitive prefix on a possessor, but may also involve other types of prefixes or proclitics. Crucially, the possession must be marked by an element that precedes and is phonologically bound to the possessor nominal/pronominal.

Procedure

1. Code 1 if there is an adnominal possession construction marked by any element which is phonologically bound to the possessor noun/pronoun, and which precedes that noun/pronoun.
2. Code 0 if there is no adnominal possession construction in which a prefix or proclitic on the possessor noun/pronoun functions to mark possession.
3. Code 0 if the only relevant adnominal possession construction is marked only by tone, not by a prefix or proclitic.

Examples

Zulu (ISO 639-3: zul, Glottolog: zulu1248)

"The possessor noun is usually preceded by a prefix that shows agreement with the possessee, called possessive agreement." (de Dreu 2008: 44)

a. ukhezo         lomfazi  
   u-khezo        lwa-u-mfazi  
   AUG-CL11.spoon POSS.CL11-AUG-woman  
   ‘the spoon of a woman’ (de Dreu 2008: 44)

b. i-ngane       ya-mi  
   AUG-CL9.child POSS.CL9-N1SG  
   ‘child of mine’ (de Dreu 2008: 45)

Zulu would be coded 1, because the possessive agreement morpheme is phonologically dependent on the possessor noun or pronoun and it precedes that noun/pronoun. The relative order of possessor and possessum is not important to this feature, nor is the exact nature of the possessive-flagging prefix (here it marks possession and agreement with the possessum; in other languages it could be something else such as a genitive marker).

Further reading

Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. & R. M. W. Dixon (eds). 2013. Possession and ownership: A cross-linguistic typology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Baron, Irène, Michael Herslund & Finn Sørensen (eds). 2001. Dimensions of possession. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

References

de Dreu, Merijn. 2008. The internal structure of the Zulu DP. Leiden: Leiden University. (MA Thesis.)

Related Features

• GB065 What is the pragmatically unmarked order of adnominal possessor and possessed noun?
• GB431 Can adnominal possession be marked by a prefix on the possessed noun?
• GB432 Can adnominal possession be marked by a suffix on the possessor?
• GB433 Can adnominal possession be marked by a suffix on the possessed noun?

Patron

Hannah J. Haynie