Morphosyntactic Categories and the Expression of Possession

The analysis of constructions denoting possession (particularly, but not exclusively, in English) has long presented a challenge to morpho-syntactic theory and has been a topic of debate for some time. The papers presented here afford thought-provoking insights into the morphosyntactic nature of possessive markers under a variety of theoretical frameworks. The distribution of phrases expressing possession is explored in a range of languages (including English, Swedish, Urdu and West Flemish), with rigorous exploitation of corpus data and careful statistical analysis. Descriptions and analyses represent the state of the art in research into possessive constructions. Particular attention is paid to the English possessive ’s, both synchronically and diachronically. This volume is essential for scholars interested in theoretical and corpus-based linguistics, morphosyntactic constructions, and the expression of possession.

Sebastian Sulger, University of Konstanz, on Linguist List 24,3673, 2013:
The volume is essential reading for any linguist interested in the morphosyntactic realization of possession. While the overall focus is clearly on English, this is not necessarily a negative: it enables the volume to approach the various issues in English from several distinct angles, while maintaining a manageable set of data. Empirical-statistical, cognitive and theoretical-explanatory accounts add up to render a rather complete picture of the English possessive constructions from a synchronic as well as from a diachronic perspective. In addition, descriptive papers team up to provide insights into other languages' possessive structures as well.