Possessive in Kavrinian
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This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
There are two types of possessions: alienable and inalienable. Alienable possession is used generally for tangible items that one might cease to own at some point, but inalienable possession generally refers to a perpetual relationship that cannot be readily severed.
In Kavrinian, nouns that normally uses an inalienable possession includes kinship terms, social relationship(including domestic animals and pets, as domestic animals are seen as a family member), body parts, part-whole relationship(e.g. spatial relationships), possessed noun originates from the possessor, mental states and processes, attributes of a known possessor.
Type of Relations | Example |
---|---|
kinship terms | fathers, mothers, children, cousins |
social relationship | friends, trading partners, neighbours, co-workers, superiors, inferiors, domestic animals, pets |
body parts | hand, foot, head, skin, hair, feather, body organs |
part-whole relationship | tabletop, foot of a chair |
possessed noun originates from the possessor | sweater, sound, voice |
mental states and processes | fear, happiness, mind |
attributes of a known possessor | name, age, gender, spatial relationships(e.g. the left side of a house) |
Some of the nouns in the list might also use alienable possessions, but in these nouns alienable possession and inalienable possessions often indicate different meanings. For example:
- (inalienable)gatil - 1.SG.POSS-leg - my leg(a body part of the speaker)
- (alienable)gay til - 1.SG.GEN leg - my leg(a body part of someone else)
In the first example, the leg referred is the body part of the speaker; in the second example, the leg referred is not the body part of the speaker, but the body part of someone else. For example, to refer a leg of a pig that the speaker bought from the market for dinner, the speaker would say gay til instead of gatil, and the speaker would say gatil instead of gay til when referring to their own legs.
In alienable possessions, the possessor is in the genitive case and precedes the noun, and no marking is used on the possessee. For example:
- nooris yees - male-GEN-DEF house-DEF - the male's house.
- sooris ryon - female-GEN-DEF money - the female's money
When the possessor is a personal pronoun, and the possessive relationship is an alienable one, there are specific possessive pronouns to mark the alienable possessor:
- 1.SG: gay
- 2.SG: i
- 3.SG.AN: ruy
- 3.SG.INAN: yoy
- 1.PL.EXCL: gi
- 1.PL.INCL: qi
- 2.PL: ili
- 3.PL.AN: ri
- 3.PL.INAN: yori
For example:
- gay ryon - 1.SG.GEN money - my money
- i yee - 2.SG.GEN house - your house
In inalienable possessions, the possessee takes a possessive prefix, and the possessor is in the nominative case and precedes the possessee if the possessor is a noun. For example:
- noorsi iniissi - male-DEF 3.SG-child-DEF - the male's child(not *nooris iniissi(male-GEN-DEF 3.SG-child-DEF), the genitive case is not used on the possessor when it indicates an inalienable possessive relation.)
- yees iǧintoova - house-DEF 3.SG-backyard-DEF - the house's backyard
Below are possessive prefixes for inalienable possessions:
- 1.SG: ga(')-
- 2.SG: i(')-
- 3.SG.AN: ru(')-
- 3.SG.INAN: yo(')-
- 1.PL.EXCL: gi(')-
- 1.PL.INCL: qi(')-
- 2.PL: il-
- 3.PL.AN: ri(')-
- 3.PL.INAN: yor-
When the possessor is a personal pronoun, the possessive prefixes are used, and no additional words are needed. For example:
- ga'ana - 1.SG.POSS-mother - my mother
- ige - 2.SG.POSS-head - your head
- rutölö - 3.SG.POSS-dog - his dog
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