Possessive marking
Where does “the man’s head” carry its mark?
Two nouns get tied together in five ways: a genitive on the possessor (Latin, Russian, English ’s), a person affix on the possessed noun (Hungarian, Ainu, Navajo), both at once (Turkish, Quechua), a free particle between the two (Japanese の, Mandarin 的, Romance de), or nothing beyond word order (Welsh, Indonesian).
- 语义领域
- 所有
策略
Possessor-marked
[man-GEN] [head]A genitive case or clitic sits on the possessor. Latin caput virī, Russian голова человека — and English ’s, which leans on the whole possessor phrase: the King of Spain’s daughter.
Possessee-marked
[man] [head-his]The possessed noun carries a person affix and the possessor stands beside it unmarked. Hungarian a férfi feje “the man head-his”; Ainu okkayo sapaha; Navajo hastiin bighan “the man his-home”.
Double-marked
[man-GEN] [head-his]Both at once. Turkish adamın başı puts the genitive on the possessor and a person suffix on the possessed; Quechua does the same with -pa and -n.
Linker particle
[man] [LINK] [head]A free particle or adposition ties the two nouns without agreeing with either: Japanese の, Mandarin 的, Romance de. The order differs — の and 的 follow the possessor, de leads it.
Juxtaposition
[head] [the man]No marker at all; a fixed order carries the relation. Welsh pen y dyn “head the man” keeps the article on the possessor only; Indonesian kepala laki-laki itu works the same way.
地理分布
每个圆点代表一个已记录的语言，颜色对应它所采用的策略。点击任意圆点可查看其具体形式。
Marker positions are approximate cultural centres — they are not territorial claims. Tiles: OpenFreeMap · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Dark tiles: © CARTO.
语言对比
| Language | Strategy | Expression | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
English Indo-European › Germanic | Possessor-marked | X’s Y | ’s is a phrasal clitic on the possessor phrase: the King of Spain’s daughter |
Russian Indo-European › Slavic | Possessor-marked | голова человека golova čeloveka | genitive case on the possessor, which follows the head |
Latin Indo-European › Italic (historical) | Possessor-marked | caput virī | genitive case; either order occurs |
German Indo-European › Germanic | Possessor-marked | der Kopf des Mannes | genitive on article and noun; prenominal des Mannes Kopf survives in names and set phrases |
Hungarian Uralic › Ugric | Possessee-marked | a férfi feje | possessor unmarked, person suffix -e/-je on the head; a dative possessor (a férfinak a feje) adds emphasis |
Ainu Ainu (isolate, critically endangered) | Possessee-marked | okkayo sapaha | possessed form -hV/-VhV on body-part, kin and part nouns; alienables use attributive kor instead |
Navajo Athabaskan | Possessee-marked | hastiin bighan | 3rd-person bi- on the possessed noun: “the man his-home” |
Turkish Turkic › Oghuz | Double-marked | adam-ın baş-ı | genitive -ın on the possessor and person -ı on the possessed, the izafet chain |
Quechua Quechuan | Double-marked | runa-pa wasi-n | genitive -pa and 3rd-person -n; the genitive’s shape varies across Quechua varieties |
Japanese Japonic | Linker particle | XのY X no Y | |
Mandarin Chinese Sino-Tibetan › Sinitic | Linker particle | X的Y X de Y | 的 drops with kin and close relations |
French Indo-European › Romance | Linker particle | Y de X | |
Spanish Indo-European › Romance | Linker particle | Y de X | |
Welsh Indo-European › Celtic | Juxtaposition | pen y dyn | the possessed noun drops its article; only the possessor keeps one |
Indonesian Austronesian › Malayic | Juxtaposition | kepala laki-laki itu | possessed–possessor order with no marker |
例句
在「自然 / 直译 / 注释」之间切换，对比同一概念在各语言中的不同表达方式。
“the man’s head”
One phrase across every locus. The genitive languages mark the man, Hungarian, Ainu and Navajo mark the head, Turkish and Quechua mark both, Japanese, Mandarin and French put a particle between the nouns, and Welsh and Indonesian rely on order alone.
the man’s head
- 自然
- the man’s head
голова человека
golova čeloveka
- 自然
- the man’s head
caput virī
- 自然
- the man’s head
der Kopf des Mannes
- 自然
- the man’s head
a férfi feje
- 自然
- the man’s head
okkayo sapaha
オッカヨ サパハ
- 自然
- the man’s head
hastiin bitsiitsʼiin
- 自然
- the man’s head
adamın başı
- 自然
- the man’s head
runapa uman
- 自然
- the man’s head
男の頭
otoko no atama
- 自然
- the man’s head
男人的头
nánrén de tóu
- 自然
- the man’s head
la tête de l’homme
- 自然
- the man’s head
pen y dyn
- 自然
- the man’s head
kepala laki-laki itu
- 自然
- that man’s head
参考文献
- Bugaeva 2012 01Bugaeva, Anna (2012).Southern Hokkaido Ainu.In Tranter, Nicolas (eds.), The Languages of Japan and Korea. Routledge. 461–509.
- Göksel & Kerslake 2005 02Göksel, Aslı; Kerslake, Celia (2005).Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar.Routledge.
- King 2003 03King, Gareth (2003).Modern Welsh: A Comprehensive Grammar.2nd edition. Routledge.
- Li & Thompson 1981 04Li, Charles N.; Thompson, Sandra A. (1981).Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar.University of California Press.
- Nichols 1986 05Nichols, Johanna (1986).Head-marking and dependent-marking grammar.
- Nichols & Bickel 2013 06Nichols, Johanna; Bickel, Balthasar (2013).Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases.In Dryer, Matthew S.; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.), WALS Online (v2020.4), Chapter 24. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. https://wals.info/chapter/24
- Sneddon 1996 07Sneddon, James Neil (1996).Indonesian: A Comprehensive Grammar.Routledge.
- Tamura 2000 08Tamura, Suzuko (2000).The Ainu Language.ICHEL Linguistic Studies, Vol. 2. Sanseido, Tokyo.
- Weber 1989 09Weber, David John (1989).A Grammar of Huallaga (Huánuco) Quechua.University of California Press.
- Young & Morgan 1987 10Young, Robert W.; Morgan, William (1987).The Navajo Language: A Grammar and Colloquial Dictionary.Revised edition. University of New Mexico Press.
相关模式
订正
本页所载都可能有误。可以对页面的说法提出异议、补上缺失的语言，或直接编辑生成本页的文件。