Abstract
AbstractThis chapter examines adnominal possessive constructions in eighteen Tukanoan languages and presents an analysis that attempts to explain the variations in the types of possessive constructions. Moreover, this chapter presents a proposal for the development of overt possessive marking and the emergence of an alienability distinction in Tukanoan languages. In the languages of this family that distinguish between alienable and inalienable nouns, body parts and kinship terms together form a class of inalienable nouns. Finally, this chapter shows how language contact may have motivated the emergence of the alienability distinction in these languages.
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