Amberber, Mengistu (2020). The conceptual semantics of alienable possession in Amharic. In Kerry Mullan, Bert Peeters, & Lauren Sadow (Eds.), Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 1. Ethnopragmatics and semantic analysis (pp. 207-222). Singapore: Springer.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9983-2_11
Abstract:
This study investigates the semantics of alienable possession in Amharic, with particular reference to a recent proposal in the NSM framework according to which ‘true possession’ or ‘ownership’ is more adequately expressed by the semantic prime (BE) MINE than by the (now abandoned) prime HAVE. The author argues that this claim is borne out by data from Amharic. It is shown that the verb allə ‘have’ cannot reliably distinguish between true possession and other types of possessive relations, whereas the sequence jəne nəw ‘it is mine’ is consistently associated with ownership. The study also briefly examines the semantics of two sets of verbs in which the semantic prime for alienable possession plays a key role.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
