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Extracting Possessors in ʔayʔaǰuθəm (and Beyond)
Academic Work
In this paper, we first examine possessor extraction strategies in ʔayʔaǰuθəm (Comox-Sliammon; ISO 639-3: coo), the northernmost Central Salish language, before comparing the ʔayʔaǰuθəm system to its five cloest Salishan neighbours in the North Georgia region. We begin by showing that possessor extraction in ʔayʔaǰuθəm is highly restricted, occurring only with inalienably possessed body parts. In all other cases, in order to extract a possessor, the predicate snaʔ 'be the owner of', which takes the possessor as its direct (absolutive) argument, must be used. Curiously, snaʔ does not appear except in cases of possessor extraction. For all other cases of predicative possession (including extraction of the possessum), the nominal predicate naʔ '(one's) own' is used, which has an inverse argument structure: its direct (absolutive) argument is the possessum, while its possessor argument is realized in the form of a possessive affix, with or without an associated DP. While snaʔ and naʔ do not appear to be derivationally related, in other languages of the area, the counterpart of snaʔ is transparently derived from a denominal prefix with approximately the meaning of 'have' plus a posessive nominal predicate closely parallel to naʔ: this suggests a diachronic source for the naʔ ~ snaʔ alternation.
AW.00013
2020
Language and Linguistics
UBC Working Papers in Linguistics Press
International Conference on Salish Languages, 55,
International Conference on Salish Languages, 55,
ʔayʔaǰuθəm (Comox-Sliammon), Comox-Sliammon, extraction, possessor, syntax, Salish, North Georgia area
Working Papers
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