Possession and recursion
Most languages allow a Noun Phrase to contain another NP which names the POSSESSOR of the head noun. This phrase is called a “possessor” because it can always be used to express the concept of possession or ownership; but in many languages it can be used to express a wide variety of other relationships as well. For example, the phrase my picture can be used to indicate that I am the owner of the picture (I bought it), I am the creator of the picture (I painted it), or I am the subject of the picture (it shows my likeness). Similarly, phrases like John’s leg, John’s son, or John’s reputation indicate various kinds of association between the possessor (John) and the head noun, none of which involves ownership in the normal sense of the word.
In English, a possessor phrase functions as a kind of determiner. We can see this because possessor phrases do not normally occur together with other determiners in the same NP:
(19) a the new motorcycle
b Mary’s new motorcycle
c ∗Mary’s the new motorcycle
d ∗the Mary’s new motorcycle
In some other languages, however, this is not the case. Example (20) shows that possessor phrases may co-occur with definite articles in Portuguese, and with demonstratives in Malay.
(20) a Portuguese
o meu filho ‘my son’
the(masc.sg) my(masc.sg) son
b Malay
anak Ramli itu ‘Ramli’s child’; ‘that child of Ramli’s’
child Ramli that
We will discuss a grammatical distinction that is made in some languages between two different kinds of possession. We will discuss the structure of “nested” possessor phrases, e.g. John’s sister’s husband.
