Possessive marking

[Gideon Goldenberg]

>> A general question: Is this forum really meant to raise
>> questions the answers for which can be found by consulting
>> any standard grammar-book?

> "Any standard grammar book" of which language(s), Gideon?
> - Paul [Hopper]

> Only if one knows in advance which ones to consult.
> And what about languages for which there is no "standard
> grammar book" because there is no standard?
> Joe Foster


Paul, Joe and Colleagues,
My "general question" was not intended to discourage wide
cross-linguistic tests in typological comparison of as many
languages as possible, but just to repeat a comment wisely
made by H.-J. Sasse thirteen years ago about expecting the
linguist engaged in such activity, for languages that are
dealt with in his study other than those "on which he bases
his central conclusions", "to use reliable sources (grammars,
monographs and articles written by specialists and giving
detailed accounts of the structure of the languages in
question)" [v. Lingua 69 (1986) 136]. In many cases we find
in this forum extremely valuable pieces of information and
important insights, often also concerning well-described
languages; in response to your right questions, Paul and Joe,
we might should perhaps offer in our answers, as a standard,
some relevant bibliographical references where such are
available.                   Cordial regards,       Gideon


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Gideon Goldenberg, Dept. of Linguistics,
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus
IL-91905 Jerusalem, Israel
Home Address: 48 Ben-Maimon Avenue,
IL-92261 Jerusalem, Israel
Tel.& Fax: +972-2-5665135
E-mail: <msgidgol at pluto.mscc.huji.ac.il>
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