Re: "The" and possessives

Tom Pullman wrote:
>>    Now "The cat of the man" is not "An cat an fhir" but simply "Cat
>> an fhir". Why is this? Because "of the man" makes "cat" definite
>> just as well as "an" does, and therefore removes the need for it.>>
As best I recall, in Buginese (Indonesia), a possessed noun qualifies as a
definite noun, and requires a different verbal construction:

(In these exs., {e} is barred-i/schwa, {é} is [e])
indo? manasui berre? esso-esso 'mother cooks rice every day
(indo? 'mother'  berre? 'rice' esso 'day'; ma- 'vbl.prefix' nasu 'cook' -i
3s SUBJ.marker.

indo? nanasui berre?é 'mother cooked the rice' (na- 3s SUBJ., -i 3s OBJ. -é
def.marker-- yes, it's sort of ergative......)

Ali mitai méong 'Ali saw a cat'....Ali naitai méongé 'Ali saw the cat'
Ali naitai méokku 'Ali saw my cat'.... uitai méonna Ali 'I saw Ali's cat'