Inquiry: Unmarked Possessives (various LCTLs) (fwd)

[Yuphaphann Hoonchamlong]

Date:  Thu, 10 May 2001 14:40:33 +0200
From:  Joost Kremers <j.kremers at let.kun.nl>
Subject:  Unmarked possessives


Hello all,

There are apparently languages that do not mark possessives in any
way. They simply juxtapose two nouns to express possession. So for
example to express "John's car", they would say either "car John" or
"John car".

I am looking for references to any studies dealing with this
phenomenon, either in specific languages or in general. I would also
be very grateful if anyone could tell me about languages that use this
structure, because so far I have only found a very few cases.

Thanks in advance,

Joost Kremers



Joost Kremers, M.A.

University of Nijmegen
Department of Languages and Cultures of the Middle-East

PO Box 9103
6500 HD Nijmegen
tel: 024-3612996
fax: 024-3611972

http://joostkremers.nijmegennet.nl