LINGUIST List 21.4402 Wed Nov 03 2010 Disc: Data Request: Possessives in Nilo-Saharan Editor for this issue: Elyssa Winzeler <elyssalinguistlist.org> To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.     Eva Dobler , Data Request: Possessives in Nilo-Saharan Message 1: Data Request: Possessives in Nilo-Saharan Date: 29-Oct-2010 From: Eva Dobler <eva.doblermail.mcgill.ca> Subject: Data Request: Possessives in Nilo-Saharan E-mail this message to a friend Hi, I’m writing a PhD thesis on possessive DPs and I have a few questions with respect to DPs in Nilo-Saharan languages. It would be really great if someone could help me at least with respect to one or two of the questions below. I have mostly focused on Acholi and Lango so far but if you can only answer these questions with respect to Dholuo or some other closely related language that would also help me a lot. (1a) Is it possible to modify an inalienably possessed noun inside the DP? It’s difficult in any language but could you say something like 'Today, [his good leg] is hurting him too.' or 'Today, [Onoko’s bad leg] is hurting him again.' in a context where Onoko has one healthy and one crippled leg, and the latter is causing him pain on a regular basis. (1b) What about non-restrictive modification? Is it possible to say something like 'He is proud of [his strong legs]' or would you have to say something like '[His legs] are strong'? (2) If the possessor ‘the man’ in example (i) was replaced with the pronoun ‘his’, could the sentence look like in (ii) or would the word order have to be different? i) gwóggî à lócә̀ àdɛ́kk à dɔ̀ŋɔ̀ àmɛ̂ dákô ònɛ̀nònì dogs att-part man att+part-three att+part big rel+part woman 3s-see-perf this 'these three big dogs of the man that the woman saw' (Noonan 1992: Grammar of Lango, p. 154, ex. 1) ii) gwók’ɛ́rɛ̂ àdɛ́kk à dɔ̀ŋɔ̀ àmɛ̂ dákô ònɛ̀nònì (3) If possessed nouns are modified as in the example in (i) above, is this attributive modification or restrictive modification (i.e., is the speaker referring to the big dogs as opposed to the small dogs or is he talking about the dogs which happen to be big), or could it be either depending on the context/intonation? Thank you very much in advance, Eva Dobler Linguistic Field(s): Syntax Subject Language(s): Acholi (ach)                             Lango (laj)                             Luo (luo) Language Family(ies): Nilo-Saharan Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 03-Nov-2010       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.