possessives

[Elena Maslova]

At 23:38 8/19/99 -0400, David Beck wrote:

> What I am assuming is that semantic relations like "possession"
(in the
> broad, deictic sense), modification, and attribution do
represent universal
> semantic relations and in representational terms can be
modelled using a
> consistent set of configurations. It is starting to look to me
(and more so
> since everyone on the list has so kindly provded me with
examples) like
> these can be placed on a sort of continuum (probably having to
do with
> predicativity) running from "possession" (semantically a
deictic relation
> between two names/things) through "attribution" (a relation
between two
> names/things mediated by a predicate which is elided in the
syntax) to
> "modification" (a relation between a semantic predicate and a
name/thing
> which is directly its argument).
>
> My interest the possession-by-juxtaposition languages was to
see if they
> neutralize all three semantic configurations in the syntax or
group them in
> an odd way.

OK, Yukaghir has three relevant constructions, one
dependent-marking (the marker -n, perhaps Uralic), one
head-marking (3 person possesor only), and one zero-marking. The
head-marking one is strictly possessive, the dependent-marking
one is attributive, and the zero-marking is unmarked (very
iconically!), i.e., from the semantic point of view, it can serve
as an unmarked counterpart of the both - now attributive, now
possessive, now something which is difficult to classify (e.g.,
something like generic possessor). In other words, the speakers
of Yukaghir are in the best possible position - they can always
choose whether or not they are able or wish to differentiate, and
act accordingly. If you are interested in the factors which might
make them wish or not wish to differentiate, I can send you the
respective chapter of a reference grammar.

As for modification, I think you would identify a construction
which is very different from all these options, since it involves
the attributive form of verb (there are no adjectives).

Cheers,

Elena Maslova
University of Bielefeld

mailto:Maslova at jps.net

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