Insights from Larike Possessive Constructions

Abstract

in Larike, and attempts to draw insights pertinent to the study of possession in related languages. Example sentences, drawn extensively from text materials, are provided to help make up for the lack of prior linguistic description. It is shown that Larike makes use of four mechanisms to indicate possessive relationships: possessive prefixes, possessive suffixes, possessive roots, and possessive compounds. As part of this discussion, Larike's system of nominal classifiers is described. These nominal classifiers are members of a class of Larike nouns that explicitly marks the noun as being possessed, and also marks the number of that possessed noun. In contrast with many Central Malayo-Polynesian languages, Larike does not exhibit a definite distinction between inalienably and alienably possessed noun classes, although remnants of this system are quite apparent in nominal classifiers as well as in other nouns, especially those in part-whole relationships. In general, the suffixes used to indicate the possessive relationship are not obligatory unless the words are spoken in the absence of the possessor noun. An examination of the linguistic context in which these possessive suffixes are dropped or substituted by other suffixes is crucial to a proper understanding of Larike possessives. For purposes of comparison, this study also provides a brief survey of the possessive systems used in a number of other Central MalayoPolynesian languages. 1. INTRODUCTION. Maluku is clearly a zone of transition. Most of Maluku is contained in the biogeographical region of Wallacea (Bellwood 1985:7-9), an area that has been continuously isolated by water from both Sahulland to the east (the New Guinea-Australia land mass) and Sundaland to the west (the western Indonesian shelf land mass extending from Southeast Asia). As a result, all dispersal of human, plant, and animal life into this region necessarily came via the seas, a significant