Re: inalienable possession

Christophe Grandsire wrote:
>         No, I meant: _in PL_, the conlang I'm currently inventing, ergative
> is used _only_ for animates, as it has a meaning of volitionality.
Oh!  I'm sorry, my apologies.  If you wish to avoid such confusion,
maybe you should have the disclaimer, "in PL ..."

>(but I
> know ergative natlangs that can't use ergative with inanimates, they use an
> oblique case for an inanimate subject of a transitive verb.
True, instrumental is often used for inanimate agents (in fact,
instrumentals are sometimes where ergatives come from, when a language
goes from accusative to ergative).

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