Possession in Zaginai
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Different types of possession in Zaginai, particularly genatives (John's bowl) and possessive predicates (John has a bowl)
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 22 Jun 2018, 01:28.
[comments] zgnpossessionnominal possessionpronominal possessionpredicative possession
2. Lesson #1
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There are several ways to express possession in
Zaginai, all of which are related to each other. The easiest way to explain it is to start with full nominal possession, and work our way from there.gasu málna γa sai'aβa
kasu maalna ga saicaba
HUMHuman (gender/class)
human or belonging to human.DEFDefinite
"the".OBLOblique (argument)
indirect or demoted object person-OBLOblique (argument)
indirect or demoted object INInanimate (gender/class)
for non-living things.DEFDefinite
"the".ABSAbsolutive (case)
TRANS object, INInanimate (gender/class)
for non-living thingsTR argument tea-ABSAbsolutive (case)
TRANS object, INInanimate (gender/class)
for non-living thingsTR argument-POSSGPossessed (case)
marks being owned
"the person's tea"
It is notable what within this phrase can and cannot be changed. Either noun may be made indefinite, and the second noun (sai) may be put into any of the four cases. The first noun (mál), however, must be in the oblique, as it is above. Tsaginai has an "alienability" distinction in its possession, meaning that there is different marking for things that can be separated (like tea) and things that hopefully can't (like body parts and loved ones). This means that a phrase like "the bear's meat," when spoken in Tsaginai, specifies whether you are referring to the meat making up the bear or meat the bear has hunted. If the meat makes up the bear, the bear is in the accusative; if the bear hunted the meat, the bear is in the oblique.
Two important notes about the "-βa" (possessed) suffix:
It implies legitimate ownership. Thus, if an item has been stolen, it would not be used. Thus, "gasu málna γa sai'a" would mean "his stolen tea". Do not drop this suffix when you mean actual possession.
It may not be applied to human nouns, as human nouns cannot be truly owned. This is much a cultural note as a linguistic one, but it is extremely important. Human relations can be spoken about as possession, but "ba" would imply that the person is a slave, and owning a slave is a crime punishable by death. Ignore this at your own risk.
Once you have nominal possession down, the next trick is pronominal possession. Fortunately, it is much easier. Remembering that pronouns are ONLY the 1st-1st inclusive-2nd persons, the pronoun (with optional number and topic prefixes) is given endings of either "-u" or "-i" (oblique and accusative, respectively) and then cliticized to the determiner. Example:
nuγa sai'aβa
nuga saicaba
1First person (person)
speaker, signer, etc; I-ABSAbsolutive (case)
TRANS object, INInanimate (gender/class)
for non-living thingsTR argument.INInanimate (gender/class)
for non-living things tea-ABSAbsolutive (case)
TRANS object, INInanimate (gender/class)
for non-living thingsTR argument-POSSGPossessed (case)
marks being owned
"My tea"
You can have possession with simple determiners, but they will not cliticize, and it is often considered stylistically undesirable, although not ungrammatical. "His/her/their tea" could be written gasu γa sai'aβa or gasu máli γa sai'aβa (lit. "the person's tea"); this is a stylistic choice. The latter is formally preferred. Some speakers use these forms to mark whether or not the possessor is there, only dropping the noun if they are, which has the potential to cause confusion; keep an ear out for this.
Finally, there is predicative possession, marked in English with the verb "have" (I have tea). Zaginai does not employ any additional verbs for such sentances, instead adding the copula, δana. Thus, "I have tea" would more literally be "My tea is."
nuγa sai'aβa δana.
nuga saicaba dana.
1First person (person)
speaker, signer, etc; I-ABSAbsolutive (case)
TRANS object, INInanimate (gender/class)
for non-living thingsTR argument.INInanimate (gender/class)
for non-living things tea-ABSAbsolutive (case)
TRANS object, INInanimate (gender/class)
for non-living thingsTR argument-POSSGPossessed (case)
marks being owned be-REALRealis mood (mood)
actual, real events
"I have tea."
As always, feel free to message me if you'd like more information!
ta,gasu gulusparri rráβina.
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