The Expression of Possession

This collection of nine original articles deals with the expression of possession at various levels of grammar, morphological, phrasal, and syntactic, and from a typologically diverse range of languages (including Germanic, Oceanic, Meso-American, and Australian Aboriginal).

There are two main aims. The first is to reveal something of the range of constructions employed cross-linguistically in the expression of possession, and second, to present an understanding of the possessive relation itself as a cognitive and linguistic phenomenon.

A guiding principle in the selection of contributors has been to invite linguists whose research, while not necessarily directly dealing with possession, touches on it, and indicates that they are likely to provide fresh perspectives on this well-trodden field.