Possessive marking strategies in Mehináku (Arawak)

Abstract

In this paper, I describe the possessive constructions in Mehináku, highlighting the types of strategies found in the language, so far, to express possession relationships. I present two major types of possession constructions: (i) nominal (also known as attributive) possession, and (ii) predicative possessive constructions, which involve both the use of nouns and verbs. Regarding nominal possession, Mehináku, like other Arawak languages ​​(PAYNE, 1991; AIKHENVALD, 1999), recognizes a split between inalienably possessed and alienably possessed nouns, expressed through the attribution of different morphemes to these nouns. Inalienable nouns, for example, receive fewer morphological formatives, including only the marks of person and agreement with possessor and number, whereas alienable nouns can occur without the presence of an obligatory possessor. In this case, they will carry, in addition to the morphological formatives that appear in the inalienable nouns, specific morphemes of alienable possession. Predicative possession constructions, in turn, are formed mainly by juxtaposition, but also by other strategies, such as prefixing the attributive morpheme ka- (k-, before vowels) to the noun or verb; or through the suffixation of the existential morpheme =waka, among other possibilities.