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Possessor agreement

المؤلف:  PAUL R. KROEGER

المصدر:  Analyzing Grammar An Introduction

الجزء والصفحة:  P116-C7

2025-12-27

517

Possessor agreement

A number of languages have possessive affixes or clitics which attach to the possessed noun and indicate the person and number of the possessor. We refer to such patterns as POSSESSOR AGREEMENT only when the possessive markers can be used redundantly in the presence of a separate word or phrase referring to the same possessor. If the possessive marker replaces the possessor NP, i.e. if the two are in complementary distribution, it should probably not be analyzed as an agreement marker.

In the Amele language of Papua New Guinea, possessor agreement indicates in alienable possession. Notice that the possessive suffix on the head noun co-occurs with an independent possessor NP.

(31) Amele (PNG; Roberts 1999)

        a  ija    cot-i

            1sg  brother-1SG

            ‘my brother’

        b Dege cot-ig

            Dege brother-3SG

           ‘Dege’s brother’

Another example is found in the Buru language of eastern Indonesia. The examples in (32) all contain a free pronoun (the possessor phrase) followed by the head noun, which bears a possessor agreement suffix.