On the morpho-syntax of possessive constructions

Abstract

Possessive constructions in English, Spanish, and French differ in several ways. This article considers variation in word order, in the expression of agreement, and in the appearance of a preposition. The article generalizes to Spanish and French Bernstein & Tortora's (2005) analysis of English possessive constructions, particularly the idea that the prenominal possessive constructions are distinct from the postnominal ones. All three languages display a prenominal possessive form that cannot co-occur with an article, supporting the idea that these forms must (eventually) occupy a DP-internal position. Postnominal possessive constructions display various patterns cross-linguistically. That of is required in English is consistent with the idea (see Kayne, 1993) that the movement assumed is DP internal. This also applies to Spanish and French possessive constructions with lexical DPs, which display de. In Spanish, no preposition appears with postnominal possessive pronouns, which display properties of predicative adjectives. The analysis assumes a reduced relative structure with a possessive adjective and suppressed C (not D). In French, à appears with a non-possessive pronoun. Nevertheless, there is some support for the idea that the French construction is derived parallel to the English one.