Possessors in switch-reference

Barany, Andras; Nikolaeva, Irina

Abstract

Some languages with switch-reference use same-subject markers in structures where the internal possessor of one subject corefers with another subject, but the subjects do not corefer with each other. We analyse such patterns as a type of non-canonical switch-reference (Stirling 1993; de Sousa 2016) and show that languages differ in what types of possessive relations license same-subject marking. Languages that allow alienable possessive relations in switch-reference also allow inalienable relations to license same-subject marking, but not vice versa. In addition, alienable, but not inalienable possessive relations, must be morphosyntactically expressed when licensing same-subject marking. Adopting a modified version of Stirling’s (1993) approach, we derive these implicational relations from anaphoric conditions licensing non-canonical switch-reference.

Citation

Barany, A., & Nikolaeva, I. (2019). Possessors in switch-reference. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics, 48(1), https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.865

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 3, 2019
• Publication Date: Jun 16, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jul 3, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 3, 2019
• Electronic ISSN: 2397-1835
• Publisher: Open Library of Humanities
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 48
• Issue: 1
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.865
• Keywords: Non-canonical switch-reference; Internal possession; Relational nouns; Part-whole; relations