Possession in Irarutu

Abstract

This short paper offers a description of possessive constructions in Irarutu, an Austronesian language spoken in Indonesian Papua, which belongs to the South Halmahera–West New Guinea subgroup. Possession in Irarutu follows a typical East Malayo-Polynesian pattern distinguishing alienable and inalienable possession, but some of the morphology used to code possession is unusual, including what appears to be possessive infixation.