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In Daai, inherent possession and inalienable possession are identical. They are the kind of possessions that cannot be terminated. Though Daai has a semantically distinct category o f inherently possessed nouns, the distinction between inherent, inalienable and alienable possession is not marked morphologically.

There are basically two different forms o f possessive constructions:

• The possessor can be a noun phrase that is marked by the genitive case clitic

- a

• The possessor can be a possessive pronoun that is homophonous with the subject agreement forms normally found with the verb.

NP [POSS] -> N =a

NP [POSS] -* POSS

The examples below show possession by a noun phrase, a proper noun, a pronoun and by an agreement form. Internal to the noun phrase the distribution o f the first three forms is identical. They all occur as possessor noun phrases in a pre-head position. In (6)d the possessor is not a separate noun phrase.

(6 ) a nukpiii nu:—a hnampo-ngvoong

old .w o m a n INTENS=GEN banana-garden ‘the very old w o m a n ’s b an an a g a rd en ’

b Leen—a hnampo-ngvoong

Leen=GEN banana-garden ‘L een ’s ban ana g a rd en ’

c na:ng=a hnampo-ngvoong 2 s —GEN banana-garden ‘your b an ana g a rd en 1 d nah hnampo-ngvoong POSS :2s banana-garden ‘your b an ana g a rd en ’

Figure 5.3: Example (6)a

NP N P [P O S S ]

1

nukpiii nu: = a hn am po ngvoong

I

I

I

I

I

old.w om an very G EN ban ana garden

NP

NP[P(5ssT^4

pJss

nah hn am po ngvoong p o s s : 2 s b an ana garden

Pronouns cannot be possessed as example (7)a shows. (7)b examplifies that a common noun in the same position can be possessed.

(7) a *Kah ah-nih-noh lou: p oh-kti.

p o s s:

Is

POSS:

Is

Examples (2) above shows that a noun, modified by a REL-clause, can be possessed, but possession has to follow the REL-clause and cannot preceded it as in (8).

NP

(*NP[POSS]) REL-CL NP

(8) i f A h ) {khuui k ’um=a ve=kti} piii=e sun=noh

POSS:3s c a v e inside=LOC is=NON.FUT friend=PL DEM=ERG ‘Her friends {w ho w ere insid e th e c a v e } ...

5.2.3.1 Possessive constructions and focus marking

The examples (9)a and b show that the possessor can be drawn from the set of free pronouns and also from the possessive pronouns (see Footnote on the previous page).. The choice o f the possessor is a tool for marking focus. If the possessor is a free pronoun with the genitive clitic =a (9)a, then the possessor is in focus. But the focus shifts to the possessed item if the possessor is drawn from the set o f possessive pronouns as in example (9)b.

(9) a K ei:-a i:m pyoih-kti.

ls=GEN h o u se collapse=NON.FUT

'My h o u se collapsed .'

b Kah i:m pyoih=kti.

p o s s: I s h o u se collapse=NON.FUT ‘My house collapsed .'

5.2.3.2 Multiple possessive constructions

Double possessive constructions can be found frequently and below are some examples.

SCHEMA: POSS NP =a NP

(10) nih mah-pa:=a sa:

p o ss : 1 d u/p l.in c l master=GEN child ‘our m aster’s child’

SCHEMA: NP =0 NP =0 NP

(11) kei:=a p u —a i:m

p r o n : 1 s = g e n father.in.law=G EN h o u se ‘my father-in-law’s h o u s e ’

Below is an example of a recursive construction.

SCHEMA: POSS NP =0 NP =0 NP

(12) nih mah-pa:=a sa:=a ui:

POSS: 1 d u/pl.in c l master-GEN child=GEN d og 'the dog of our m aster’s child’

This construction is shown in Figure 5.5. Figure 5.5: Example (12) N P N P fP 'O S S ] EN N P [P O S S ] P O S S

nih m ah-pa: = a sa: = a ui:

p o s s: 1 du/pl.incl m a ste r = g e n child = g en dog

This section has shown that the noun phrase has three pre-nominal constituents: REL-clauses, demonstrative pronouns and possessors. REL-clauses do not co-occur with demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative pronouns do not co-occur with possessors. REL-clauses can be followed by the possessor of the noun head as in example (2).

NP -► REL-CL NP [POSS] NP

NP -> DEM.PRO NP

NP —► NP [POSS] NP