Parameters of Possession

This research project investigates parallels between double object constructions and possessive constructions in English, German and Arabic, with the aim of identifying structural commonalities and parameters of variation in the representation of possession across constructions and across languages. The investigation builds on recent developments in the analysis of the double object construction that indicate that the prepositional frame (e.g. Mary gave the keys to Doris) is derived from the double object frame (e.g. Mary gave Doris the keys), in contrast to previous lines of inquiry about their relatedness, which have either taken the double object frame to be derived from the prepositional frame or have taken the frames to represent alternative argument structures. The new view of the double object alternation has consequences for the analysis of two types of cross-linguistically attested possessive construction. In languages like English, possession is primarily expressed with the transitive verb have, while in languages like Arabic, possession is primarily expressed with a preposition supported by the auxiliary corresponding to be. It is thought that the Arabic-type possessive construction is related to the prepositional frame of the double object construction and the English-type construction to the double object frame. The new view of the double object alternation opens up the possibility that the Arabic-type prepositional possessive structure is derived from an English-type transitive structure, a possibility that has not been investigated in the past. This project pursues this possibility in the course of a contrastive analysis of English, Arabic and German. The comparison of Arabic with English and German is significant because of recent research indicating that some double object verbs in Arabic license a dative indirect object, as found in German, while other verbs license an accusative indirect object, as found in English. The three-way contrast between Arabic, English and German in the expression of possession and caused possession promises to isolate syntactic threads in argument structure and case licensing running through these construction types in the three languages, highlighting fundamental uniformities in the mental representation of linguistic structure. It promises simultaneously to isolate points of variation between them and parametric restrictions on deviations from these uniformities. The anticipated results of the project include a typology of possible syntactic structures for possession and caused possession in the three languages and an analysis of the interrelationships, derivational or otherwise, between the structures, that identifies the uniformities underlying these structures and the parameters of potential variation.

No additional funding sources recorded.