Re: Diffrent possessions

On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 16:30:55 -0400, Hemmo <kyrawertho@...> wrote:

>I changed a lot on my conlang Némalo lately, but I don't think it is good
>enough yet. I tried some translations to test my lang, but now I'm stuck in
>possessions that (to me) don't seem to be possessions.
>
>What I mean are the translations of the word "of": in the sentence "his
>leg" the leg is a possession because "he" owns the leg. In the sentences
>"his arrival" or "the arrest of …" it seems to me the arrival and the
>arrest are things that are being done and therefore are no possession, but
>are treated as such. Is there some kind of difference in terms for this? Or
>could I work around it somehow?
A common discrimination in possessions is 'alienable' vs. 'inalienable'. A
leg is inalienable: Whatever you do, it will still be yours. Other objects
can be given away, so they are alienable.

However, in phrases like "his arrival" I wouldn't speak of possession. It's
a peculiarity of the English language that the actor may be expressed by a
possessive pronoun. He does not own the arrival, but it's him who arrives.

kry@s:
j. 'mach' wust

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