Revisiting Possession in English Open Access

Jamerson, Kelsey René (2012)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/6h440t447?locale=en
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Abstract

Abstract
Revisiting Possession in English

Languages often distinguish inalienable from alienable possession. Inalienable possessions, such as a hand, are generally considered inherent to the possessor, while alienable possessions, such as a house, are viewed as less central, transient, and replaceable. Though many languages mark this distinction linguistically, the ways of doing so and distinctions made are varied. There is not yet a cohesive and comprehensive account of how and why possession relations are categorized the way that they are cross-linguistically. In this paper, I use syntactic and semantic tests to examine the possibility that possessions as they are coded in English fall into four main concept categories. I further argue that this framework for understanding possession may account for cross-linguistic inconsistencies in the classification of possessions into sub-categories. Implications for the theory and the theory's larger application are discussed.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Revisiting Possession in English...1
Introduction...1

Background...2
Accounts to Date...5

Proposal...7

An Alternative Proposal...8
Tests...9

Experiment...13

Method...14

Participants...14
Materials...14

Sentences...14
Nouns...14

Procedure...15

Ratings Task...15

Results...15

Averages...15
Similarity Ratings...17
Analysis...19

Discussion...20
References...23
Appendices...26

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