Possession/modification by simple juxtaposition

Tue Dec 2 09:28:56 UTC 2008

Dear all,

Well in fact I would’nt want to commit myself in analyzing Guarani
synchronically. But at least diachronically Tupi-Guarani languages do
generally use the order P[ossess]um/P[ossess]or = Noun/Attribute, in some
cases without any special marker. But a relational “r-“ is required on some
head nouns (the head being the element to the right even in the
noun-attribute’ structure where the attribute is considered a noun or a verb
depending on the author). So “rasy” can at least diachronically be segmented
as “r-asy”. Moreover, the Possessum is originally marked with an –a suffix
when consonant-final, which is never the case in the examples below, if I
remember well because Guarani lost its final consonants. If that is the case
and let alone the question of the r- prefix, this would show how a marked
gentive structure could evolve into a simple juxtaposition.

Best,

Françoise ROSE

Françoise ROSE

Dynamique Du Langage (CNRS, Université Lumière Lyon 2)

Institut des Sciences de l'Homme

14 avenue Berthelot

69363 Lyon Cedex 07

FRANCE

(33) 4 72 72 64 63

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De : Discussion List for ALT [mailto:LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG] De
la part de Wolfgang Schulze
Envoyé : samedi 22 novembre 2008 13:18
À : LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Objet : Re: Possession/modification by simple juxtaposition

Wouldn't it make sense to refer to Guaraní in order to illustrate
P[ossess]um/P[ossess]or = Noun/Attribute strategies marked for
juxtaposition? Taking the data from Maura Velazquez' article "Guarani
possessive constructions"
(http://crl.ucsd.edu/newsletter/3-6/Article1.html), the Guarani strategy can
be illustrated as follows:

Por-Pum:

Maria mesa
Maria table
'Marias table'

Maria ajaka
Maria basket
'Maria's basket'

Noun-Attribute:

py'a rasy
stomach sick
'sick stomach' ~ 'stomach ache'

resa rovy
eye blue
'blue eye(s)'

As for Por/Pum, Velazquez writes: "When the PSR [= Por, W.S.] is a lexical
noun (...),  nominal  possession is regularly indicated by a simple
juxtaposition of the two nominals  involved:  N1 (PSR)  N2  (PSM) [= Pum,,
W.S.].  There is no special morpheme marking the PSR or the PSM.  The
designated  (i.e.,  profiled) element is the PSM."

Personally, I wonder whether the rigid pre-modifying strategy, namely
Por-Pum / Attr-N is documented with juxtaposition at all. In WALS, David Gil
mentions the "Västerbotten dialect of Swedish, in which alienable possessors
and colour properties may both be expressed by means of a compound
construction in which the modifier precedes the head":

Pelle-äpple
Pelle-apple
'Pelle's apple'

rö-äpple
red-apple
'red apple'

But do we have languages in which both juxtaposition and pre-modification
occur as a general (!) pattern, or is the post-modifying Pum-Por - N-Attr
correlation (with yuxtaposition) a more general option, competing with the
heterogeneous Por-Pum / N-Attr strategy (again with yuxtaposition)?
Summarizing some of the data given in this thread, we might state for
yuxtaposition:

                 Attr-N                 N-Attr
Por-Pum     e.g. Swedish       e.g. Guaraní       
Pum-Por     e.g. Welsh          ?  

[Both Swedish and Welsh 'partial']

Best wishes,
Wolfgang

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