GB065 - grambank/grambank GitHub Wiki

What is the pragmatically unmarked order of adnominal possessor and possessed noun?

Summary

GB065 focuses on the relative order of possessor and possessum (i.e. that which is possessed) in an adnominal possession construction. This feature has also been split into two binary features, "GB065a Is the pragmatically unmarked order of adnominal possessor noun and possessed noun PSR-PSD?" and "GB065b Is the pragmatically unmarked order of adnominal possessor noun and possessed noun PSD-PSR?". It is possible to answer 1 or 0 for one of the binarised features, and "?" for the other.

Coding should take into consideration only those possession constructions that are pragmatically unmarked (e.g. not focus). This feature applies to both nominal possessors and independent pronominal possessors. Affixal marking of possession, by contrast, is coded in features GB430-GB433.

Procedure

In the pragmatically unmarked order, if the possessor nominal or independent possessor pronoun precedes the possessum, code 1 for GB065 or GB065a 1.
In the pragmatically unmarked order, if the possessor nominal or independent possessor pronoun follows the possessum, code 2 for GB065 or GB065b 1.
If both occur, for example, if some possessed nouns precede and some follow, or there is a free choice, then code 3 or GB065a and GB065b 1.

Examples

Nanti (ISO 639-3: cox, Glottolog: nant1250)

i-banko      Ihonira  
2SG.M-house  Ihonira
‘Ihonira's house’

irashi      i-banko  
2SG.M.POSS  3SG.M-house  
‘his house’

Inalienable possession in Nanti is expressed by a prefix on the possessed noun, which indicates the person, number, gender of the possessor. A nominal possessor or possessive pronoun may also be included in the phrase. Nominal possessors follow the possessed noun in unmarked constructions, but may appear to the left of the possessum when they are in contrastive focus. Pronominal possessors occur to the left of possessed nouns. Alienable possession uses the same prefixes as inalienable possession, but also includes an alienable possession suffix on the possessed noun. Nanti would be coded 3. In pragmatically unmarked possessive constructions with nominal possessors, the possessor noun follows the possessed noun. The focus construction in which a possessor nominal occurs before the possessed noun does not trigger a 3 here. However, the fact that pronominal possessors precede possessed nouns in the relevant pragmatically unmarked construction (and, in fact, always when there is an independent possessive pronoun) means that both orders are present in unmarked constructions. This triggers a 3 code (Michael 2012: 151–152).

Southeastern Pomo (ISO 639-3: pom, Glottolog: sout2982)

Both alienable and inalienable possession in Southeastern Pomo involve a construction where the possessor precedes the possessed noun. Southeastern Pomo would be coded 1, since only this one order occurs.

hayut     xin
hayu-it   xin
dog-POSS  name
‘the dog's name’

bṭedit      xal
bṭed-it     xal
woman-POSS  arm
‘the woman's arm’

hayutbaq        ca
hayu-it-baq     ca
dog-POSS-ALIEN  house
‘the dog's house’

Ɂuyitbaq       ca
Ɂuyi-it-baq    ca
3s-POSS-ALIEN  house
‘his house’ (Moshinsky 1974: 95)

Nzadi (ISO 639-3: nzd, Glottolog: nzad1234)

The possessor noun or possessive pronoun follows the possessed noun in Nzadi. For some classes of possessed nouns, a genitive linker é also occurs before the possessor. Nzadi is coded 2, since the possessor always follows the possessed noun in pragmatically unmarked constructions.

mwàán  mǐ`
child  my
‘my child’

ǐgɔm  mwàán
drum  child
‘the child's drum’

okyá é   ǐ́kêm
tail GEN monkey
‘the monkey's tail’ (Crane et al. 2011: 77–83)

References

Crane, Thera M. and Hyman, Larry M. and Tukumu, Simon Nsielanga. 2011. A grammar of Nzadi [B865]: A Bantu language of Democratic Republic of Congo. (University of California Publications in Linguistics, 147.) Berkeley: University of California Press.

Michael, Lev. 2012. Possession in Nanti. In Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. & Dixon, R. M. W. (eds.), Possession and Ownership, 149–166. Oxford University Press.

Moshinsky, Julius. 1974. A Grammar of Southeastern Pomo. (University of California Publications in Linguistics, 72.) Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Related Features

Patron

Hannah J. Haynie