Sitzungsinhalt

INTERNAL & EXTERNAL POSSESSORS:


INTRODUCTION:

Possessor: an owner

possess um: something own
inalienable possession: possession of entities that are an

integral

part of the body


◦ the German sentences have one argument more than

their

English counterparts: Dative up
↳ the possessor and the possessum are not expressed

by the same phrase, but by two different

arguments.
◦ in expressions denoting a bodys part or garment:

→ German requires the definite article

→ English requires the possessive determiner (pronoun)

, internal possessor: in an internal-possession

construction, a possessive modifier occurs as a
dependant constituent of the modified NP: the possessor

(pronouns) and the Possessum (noun) are expressed in

one noun phrase.→ English!


external possessor: in an external-possession

construction, a possessive modifier does not occur as

a dependant constituent of the modified NP, but
NP-externally as a constituent of the clause. →

German!


ARGUMENT STRUCTURE:

◦ in English: the argument structure is the same as

in other contexts. ⇒ John washed his
hands/the dishes.

◦ in German: an external possessor is generally

encoded by

a dative object:-dative of possession" , also called