Feature GB256: Can predicative possession be expressed with an S-like possessor and a possessum that is coded like a comitative argument?

Patrons: Hedvig Skirgård

Description ⇫

Summary

This question concerns predicative possession, i.e. clauses that express an ownership relation between a possessor and a possessum. This feature concerns a clause which features a comitative/conjunctional construction (c.f. Stassen 2000, 2001, 2013). The predicate is an existential/locational/copula and the possessum or possessor is marked by an element marking simultaneity between clauses, or ‘also/too’, or subordinating conjunction (‘when/while’), or coordinating particle (‘and’), or a comitative marker (‘with’). The marker need not be phonologically bound. Both constructions where the possessor and constructions where the possessum is marked by the comitative marker count.

Procedure

  1. Find the section on predicative possession.
  2. If no such section exists, search for words like ‘own’, ‘possess’, ‘have’ and ‘belong’.
  3. If there is no information on how predicative possession is expressed in the language, code ?.
  4. If it is clear that there is a productive finite clause type which meets the criteria above, code 1.
  5. If there are multiple constructions besides this one to express predicative possession, code 1 for this feature and verify whether any of the other constructions are relevant to GB250, GB252, GB253 or GB254.

Examples

Marshallese (ISO 639-3: mah, Glottolog: mars1254)

Marshallese has a marker for comitative, ippā-, that can express possessive predication. This is not well described in grammars of the language, but language specialist Jonathan Schlossberg was able to confirm to us over personal correspondence that this construction exists. He provided the example below. Marshallese is coded as a 1 for this feature.

e=pād             ippā-m̧ 
3SG.S=be.located  COM-2SG.P 
‘You have it.’ (lit. ‘It is with you.’)

Further reading

Stassen, Leon. 2000. AND-Languages and WITH-Languages. Linguistic Typology 4. 1-54.

Stassen, Leon. 2001. Predicative Possession. In Martin Haspelmath, Wulf Oesterreicher & Wolfgang Raible (eds) Language typology and language universals. 954–960. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Stassen, Leon. 2013. Predicative Possession. In Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds), The world atlas of language structures online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.


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0 absent 1114
1 present 248
? Not known 808
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Values ⇫

Name Glottocode Family Macroarea Contributor Value Source Comment