Tags · Structure
Oblique marking
A participant marked by a case or adposition rather than as subject or object.
Topics with this tag
Pattern
How do languages say “I have X”?
Some languages use a transitive HAVE verb; others say “at me, X is”, “to me, X is”, or “I-with X”. The same language often switches strategy with what is possessed — inanimate, animate, kin, body-parts.
ExistenceLocationPossessionSyncretism +4
Possession →
Pattern
How do languages say “I don’t have X”?
To express absence of possession, languages either negate a HAVE-verb, add a negative determiner to the object, or reframe the situation as one of non-existence or absence — with the possessor as topic, location, or dative.
ExistencePossessionNegationSuppletion +3
Non-possession →