possessive marking

[Johanna Laakso]

In the Uralic (Finno-Ugrian) language family, the peripheral branches
(Finnic, Saami, Samoyed) typically express possession with the genitive
(in -N), leaving the head unmarked. (One exception are the possessor
pronouns in Standard Finnish which require possessive marking in the head
noun, as already mentioned by Matti Miestamo.)

The central branches -- Mordvin, Mari, Permian (Komi-Permiak-Udmurt) and
Ugric (Khanty, Mansi, Hungarian) -- typically show two competing
solutions (in some cases explained as reparative strategies after the loss
of the original Uralic -N-genitive, and in some cases perhaps by Turkic
influences). 

The option POSSESSOR-GEN  POSSESSED-ZERO also exists at least
in Mordvin, Mari and Permian (with the old N-genitive in Mordvin and Mari,
with more recent genitive -- or "habitive", or "dative" -- suffixes in
Permian), but these languages can also mark the head noun with a 3sg
possessive suffix, like in Komi

nyv-lön s'ylöm-ys GIRL-GEN SINGING-3SG 'the singing of the girl'

At least in Komi, there is also a (restricted?) alternative of leaving
both nouns unmarked. The examples quoted in all reference books ;-) are 

vöv jur HORSE HEAD 'the/a horse's head'
Ivan Anna 'Ivan['s daughter] Anna', the old (and obsolete?) counterpart of
Russian "Anna Ivanovna".

This alternative, alongside with the structure type POSSESSOR-ZERO
POSSESSED-3SG, seems normal in the Ob-Ugrian languages (Khanty and Mansi),
where there is no (separate) genitive case.

The analysis of the "double-zero" structure can be controversial, as some
cases come close to what could be analyzed as compound words and rouse
difficult questions of the semantics of possession and the status of the
word. Cf.

Mordvin keve-n' kudo STONE-GEN HOUSE 'a house made of stone'
Estonian lumememm SNOW-GEN+OLD.WOMAN 'snowman' [i.e. a figure made of
snow]
Komi lym mort SNOW MAN 'snowman' (analysed as two words with an attribute
in the nominative case!)
Finnish lumiukko SNOW+OLD.MAN 'snowman'



---------- Johanna Laakso <Johanna.Laakso at Helsinki.FI> ----------------
--------- Helsingin yliopisto, Suomalais-ugrilainen laitos ------------
----------------- http://www.helsinki.fi/~jolaakso/ -------------------
-- "Feministi on nainen, jolla on mukavat kengät."  - Robin Williams --