possessive marking

[Michael Noonan]

Leon Stassen mentions Limbu among those languages permitting "double
genitives".  In this respect, Limbu is typical of the Kiranti languages
[Tibeto-Burman: Bodic: Himalayish: Kiranti] in employing a syntagm wherein
the attributive NP is marked with the genitive, as in the following
example from Athpare [from Ebert: A Grammar of Athpare]:
	phak-nga o-tehek
	pig-GEN  3POSS-head
	'the pig's head'
A few Kiranti languages, including Athpare, employ another sort of double
genitive, one where the attributive NP is marked as a nominalization,
sometimes with, sometimes without the GEN:
	anga-na appa(-nga)-na    u-sanggwa
	my-NOM  father(-GEN)-NOM 3POSS-buffalo
	'my father's buffalo'

On the use of nominalizations in attributive constructions, see my
'Versatile nominalizations' in the Givon Festschrift.

Mickey

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