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
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
