External Possession and Possessor Raising
نویسنده
چکیده
External possession is a phenomenon where a nominal is syntactically encoded as a verbal dependent but semantically understood as the possessor of one of its co-arguments. While the general pattern is crosslinguistically very common, there is much variation in its precise syntax and semantics. In this chapter I review the classic analyses of external possession as possessor raising and possessor binding. The evidence behind these analyses indicates that raising and binding are indeed each appropriate for certain subtypes of external possession, as is an analysis in terms of movement to thematic positions. I propose a typology which groups these analyses under the first of two major types of external possession. This first type presents significant parallels to the domain of raising and control, subsuming possessor raising, possessor binding, possessor control and a variant of ECM. Examples are found in Nez Perce, German, Brazilian Portuguese, and English. A second major type of external possession involves subjects only and brings information structural effects. Examples are found in Malagasy, Chickasaw, Tz’utujil, and Japanese.
منابع مشابه
Possessor Raising
Various languages allow instances of external possession—possessive encoding without a possessive structure in DP. The analysis of these cases has long been a battleground of raising versus control. I provide a new argument from Nez Perce in support of possessor raising of a type thematically parallel to raising to subject. The possessor phrase moves from a possessum-DP-internal position to an ...
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