Marking strategies of attributive possession in Selkup

Abstract

This paper deals with attributive possession in North, Central and South Selkup and focuses on a quantitative analysis of the frequency with which marking strategies are used in Selkup dialects. In Selkup, attributive possession can be head marked (with a possessive suffix), dependent marked (with genitive or adessive marking), and double marked (both combined), but close study shows that while dependent marking with genitive is most commonly used for lexical possessors, for non-lexical possessors the most common usage is head marking with a possessive suffix. The paper also illustrates the usage of different types of possession (e.g. inalienable/alienable) and shows that they are rarely treated differently with regard to their marking.