Possessive affix


In linguistics, a possessive affix is an affix attached to a noun to indicate its possessor, much in the manner of possessive adjectives. Possessive affixes are found in many languages of the world. The World Atlas of Language Structures lists 642 languages which have possessive suffixes, possessive prefixes, or both, out of a total sample of 902 languages. Possessive suffixes are found in some Austronesian, Uralic, Altaic, Semitic, and Indo-European languages. Complicated systems are found in the Uralic languages; for example, Nenets has 27 different types of forms distinguish the possessor, the number of possessors and the number of objects. This allows Nenets speakers to express the phrase "many houses of us two" in one word. Mayan languages and Nahuan languages also have possessive prefixes.

Possessive affixes in various languages

Uralic languages

Finnish

is one language that uses possessive suffixes. The number of possessors and their person can be distinguished for the singular and plural, except for the third person. However, the construction hides the number of possessed objects when the singular objects are in nominative or genitive case and plural objects in nominative case; käteni may mean either "my hand", "of my hand" or "my hands". For example, the following are the forms of talo, declined to show possession:
The grammatical cases are not affected by the possessive suffix, except for the accusative case, which is left unmarked by anything but the possessive suffix. The third-person suffix is used only if the possessor is the subject. For example, Mari maalasi talonsa "Mari painted her house", cf. the use of the genitive case in Toni maalasi Marin talon "Toni painted Mari's house".
For emphasis or clarification, the possessor can be given outside the word as well, using the genitive case. In this case, the possessive suffix remains. For example, my house can be taloni or minun taloni, where minun is the genitive form of the first-person singular pronoun.
Omission of the possessive suffix makes it possible to distinguish the plural for the possessed objects, although this is not considered proper language; e.g. mun käsi "my hand" vs. mun kädet "my hands". Systematic omission of possessive suffixes is found in spoken Finnish, wherever a pronoun in the genitive is used. However, this is found only in direct address, e.g. "Their coats are dry" is Niiden takit on kuivia. Contrast this with indirect possession, as in "They took their coats", where the possessive suffix is used: Ne otti takkinsa. Even in proper Finnish, the pronouns sen and niiden, do not impose possessive suffixes except indirectly – it would be hypercorrect to ever say niiden talonsa. There is also a distinction in meaning in the third person depending on whether or not the third person possessive pronoun is used:

Hungarian

is another Uralic language, distantly related to Finnish. It follows approximately the same rules as given above for Finnish, except that it has no genitive case. So, to say, "Maria's house," one would say Mária háza.

Semitic languages

Arabic

, a Semitic language, uses personal suffixes, also classified as enclitic pronouns, for the genitive and accusative cases of the personal pronouns. The genitive and accusative forms are identical, except for the 1st person singular, which is -ī in genitive and -nī in accusative case. They can be used with nouns, expressing possession, with prepositions, which require the genitive case, or with verbs, expressing the object. Examples for personal suffixes expressing possession, using the word بيت bayt as a base:
personsingulardualplural
1st personبيتي baytī my house–بيتنا baytunā our house
2nd person بيتك baytuka your houseبيتكما baytukumā your houseبيتكم baytukum your house
2nd person بيتك baytuki your houseبيتكما baytukumā your houseبيتكن baytukunna your house
3rd person بيته baytuhu/baytuhi his houseبيتهما baytuhumā their houseبيتهم baytuhum/baytuhim their house
3rd person بيتها baytuhā her houseبيتهما baytuhumā their houseبيتهن baytuhun/baytuhin their house

Hebrew

In Hebrew, a Northwest Semitic language, possessive suffixes are optional; they are more common in formal, archaic, or poetic language, and they are also more common on certain nouns than on others. For instance, my home can be written בֵּיתִי. However, the following are some different ways to express possession, using the word בַּיִת as a base:
In Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, a modern Aramaic language, possessive pronouns are suffixes that are attached to the end of nouns to express possession similar to the English pronouns my, your, his, her, etc., which reflects the gender and plurality of the person or persons.
personsingularplural
1st personbĕtī bĕtan
2nd person bĕtūkh bĕtōkhun
2nd person bĕtakh bĕtōkhun
3rd person bĕtū betĕh
3rd person bĕtō bĕtĕh

Although possessive suffixes are more convenient and common, they can be optional for some people and seldom used, especially among those with the Tyari and Barwari dialects. The following are the alternative ways to express possession, using the word "bĕtā" as a base:

Armenian

In Armenian, the following suffixes are employed :
PersonExampleTranslation
1st personտուն-ս /tun-s/my house
2nd personտուն-դ /tun-t/your house
3rd personտուն-ը /tun-ə/his/her house

Persian

In Persian, which is an Indo-European language, possessive suffixes are found:
personSuffix
1st person singular-am
2nd person singular-at
3rd person singular-aš
1st person plural-emân
2nd person plural-etân
3rd person plural-ešân

e.g. pedar-am my father; barâdar-aš his/her brother

Tamazight

's use of possessive suffixes mirrors that of many other Afro-Asiatic languages.
  1. -inw is used when the noun ends in a consonant
Independent possessives are formed by attaching the possessive suffixes to or ', e.g. .

Turkish

personsingularTranslationpluralTranslation
1st person evimmy house evimizour house
2nd person evinyour house evinizyour house
3rd person evihis/her house evleritheir house

Malay

In the Malay language, which belongs to the Austronesian languages, the following suffixes can be added to nouns to indicate possession.
PersonExampleTranslation
1st personnegarakumy country
2nd personnegaramuyour country
3rd personnegaranyahis/her country

Not all pronouns are added in this way; most are written as separate words. For example, your country can also be expressed as negara anda or negara engkau, and our country as negara kita or negara kami.

Classical Nahuatl

is a member of the Uto-Aztecan languages and employs possessive prefixes.
PersonExampleTranslation
1st person singularno-tamy father
2nd person singularmo-tayour father
3rd person singulari-tahis/her father
1st person pluralto-taour father
2nd person pluralamo-tayour father
3rd person pluralin-tatheir father
indefinitete-taone's father