"Piorokrat" <piorokrat@autograf.pl> wrote in
news:bg1eah$g9o$1@news.onet.pl:
> Okay. It's an idea, not having possessive adjectives. Certainly easier
> than my Synthetica which has about 4 classes depending on whether the
> 'my' is for true legal possession, for control without possession, for
> locational attribution without control or possession or just for 'in
> the style of'.
>
> By this token 'my car' is type 1. if you own it, type 2. if you're
> leasing it, type 3 if you're the passenger only, (I'm waiting for my
> taxi to arrive) and type 4 if you say 'my dream car would be a Jensen
> Interceptor'.
I suppose when a child in the family says, "This is my house," he/she
would use type 3. If she's paying her parents board, type 2.
What about parts of your body? Many natlangs (Vietnamese, IIRC) and some
conlangs (my own Danallian, for instance) distinguish between
"possession" of body parts and things that can be owned.
Do I buy or lease my right arm? Neither. So in what sense do I "own" it?
Transplanted organs would be type 1, I suppose, since you "bought" them.
This reminds me of a related expression, "my wife's murderer." We know it
means "the murderer of my wife," but if both possessives were truly
possesive, it would mean "my wife's hired assassin."
Steve Cross
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