Re: Construct case and genitive pronouns

--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Carsten Becker <naranoieati@B...> wrote:
> [snip]
> Looking at the current state of my Tarsyanian grammar, I
> wondered if it would be necessary to have possessive
> pronouns in the construct state. I can't imagine a sentence
> where the possessive pronoun is the
> non-head (How do you call this, BTW? Foot?)
"Dependent".

E.g.: in the phrase "Carsten-GEN Birthday"
"Carsten" is the Dependent, "Birthday" is the Head;
this phrase is "Dependent-Marked".

In the phrase "Carsten Birthday-CONSTRUCT"
"Carsten" is the Dependent, "Birthday" is the Head;
this phrase is "Head-Marked".

In the phrase "Carsten his Birthday"
"Carsten" is the Dependent, "Birthday" is the Head;
"his" is a Floating Marker, attached neither to the Head nor to the
Dependent.  If the order is typically (Dependent, Marker, Head) this
might diachronically evolve into a Genitive Dependent Marker; if the
order is typically (Head, Marker, Dependent) it might diachronically
evolve into a Construct-State Head Marker.

In the phrase "Carsten Birthday"
"Carsten" is the Dependent, "Birthday" is the Head;
neither one is marked.

In your suggestion, "Carsten-GEN Birthday-CONSTRUCT"
"Carsten" is the Dependent, "Birthday" is the Head;
both are marked.

As for ANADEW; Check out
http://www.sron.nl/~jheise/akkadian/prologue_expl.html
They seem to say that Akkadian, at least in the Code of Hammurabi,
regularly puts the Head(s) in Construct State and the Dependent(s) in
Genitive Case.
In particulare they say the Akkadian for "landlord" is, in effect,
glossable as "lord-CONST land-GEN".

> of the NP. I think if I strictly
> applied the construct state, the possessive pronouns would
> be of no use except in answers like "Mine". On the other
> hand, why can't I have construct case with nouns but
> genitive case with pronouns? Is that an anadewism, by any
> chance?
> [snip]
> Menlaitanlei bahesanoena eimino ayyam! ;-)
> Happpy 19th birthday to me! ;-)
So glad you made 19 before I made 54.  I didn't want to be 3 times your
age!
Happy birthday!

Tom H.C. in MI

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