Abstract
The present paper presents the contrastive background and the basic objectives of a cross-linguistic research project (POSS) that takes an L2-oriented perspective on possessives in English, Norwegian, German, French and selected Slavic languages. Our paper focuses on L1/L2 pairs involving Norwegian as L2 or L1. Section 1 outlines the rationale behind our project. The morphosyntactic (‘core’) systems of English, French, German, Norwegian and Russian 3rd possessives are described and compared in section 2 while section 3 draws attention to dimensions of contrasts that fall outside the scope of our project. Section 4 specifically addresses the L2 issue, presenting for selected L1/L2 pairs our basic assumptions concerning challenges to the acquisition of the L2 possessive core system. Section 5 contains a concluding summary.
Highlights
In accordance with Zifonun (2005) we subsume under the category ‘possessive’ both possessive determiners like French mon/ma/mes ‘my’ and genitive forms of so-called personal pronouns like English his
Processing an anaphoric possessive in a given context involves the following subtasks: (i) identifying its host DP, (ii) finding a proper antecedent, and (iii) using that and the relational meaning of the possessive to establish a referent for the host DP
As a general property, the head noun of the host DP — the possessum — by agreement determines the inflection of the possessive unless the latter is a genitive form prohibiting further morphological marking
Summary
Linguistic expressions of possession (in a wide sense) are a fairly well established topic of cross-linguistic research (see among others (Alexiadou 2007; Baron et al 2001; Börjars et al 2013; Chappell & McGregor 1996; Coene & D’hulst 2003; Heine 1997; Koptjevskaja-Tamm 2002, 2003; Manzelli 1990; McGregor 2009; Zifonun 2005)). Cathrine fabricius-hansen, hans petter helland, anneliese pitz we will make use of parameters presented in Zifonun (2005), Gunkel et al (2017, B1.5.4) to account for the differing dimensions of the possessive systems across languages.8 We shall concentrate on the parameters that are of relevance for the languages to be considered here, that is, English (En), French (Fr), German (Ge), Norwegian (No) and Russian (Ru).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
